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SCIENCE  OF  STATISTICS 


Part  I 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY 


SCIENCE  OF  STATISTICS.  Part  I. 


jb  - / 2 - 'bi'~ 

STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY 


BY 

RICHMOND  MAYO-SMITH,  Ph.D. 

PROFESSOR  OF  POLITICAL  ECONOMY  AND  SOCIAL  SCIENCS 
IN  COLUMBIA  COLLEGE 


Neto  gorfe 

THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

LONDON:  MACMILLAN  & CO.,  Ltd. 

1904 


All  rights  reserved 


COPTBIGHT,  1895, 

By  MACMILLAN  AND  CO. 


Set  up  and  electrotypcd  September,  1895.  Reprinted  August, 
x8o6;  July,  1900  ; March,  1902;  February,  1904, 


NortooolJ  ^rrss 

J.  S.  Cushing  & Co.  — Berwick  Sl  Smith 
Norwood  Mass.  U.S.A. 


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r j,',. 

aC^^-C . 


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ADVERTISEMENT. 

The  present  seems  a favourable  moment  to  present  in  scien 
tific  form  those  statistics  of  population  which  are  of  interest 
to  the  student  of  sociology  and  of  economics,  to  the  journalist 
and  publicist,  to  those  interested  in  social  questions,  and  to 
intelligent  men  generally. 

The  results  of  the  great  censuses  of  1890  and  1891  in  the 
United  States,  England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  Germany,  France, 
Austria,  and  India  are  now  available.  These  data  will  not  be 
superseded  for  at  least  ten  years,  nor  is  it  probable  that  the 
next  enumerations  will  be  any  more  extensive  or  of  greater 
sociological  interest. 

For  vital  and  criminal  statistics  we  have  the  averages  for 
1871-90.  This  is  a particularly  favourable  period,  because 
the  unification  of  Germany  and  of  Italy  marked  the  beginning 
of  it,  and  there  have  been  no  great  political  changes  since. 
At  the  same  time,  it  has  all  the  characteristics  of  modern  life, 
— industrial  development,  commercial  crises,  migration,  and 
intense  social  activity.  Statistics  based  on  averages  for  such 
a period,  or  following  the  changes  from  one  phase  to  another, 
are  of  much  greater  interest  than  those  of  a single  year,  even 
the  most  recent. 

On  the  basis  of  this  material,  a systematic  effort  is  made,  in 
this  volume,  to  present  the  statistics  of  population  in  such  a 
way  as  to  show  their  real  significance.  No  figures  have  been 

V 


264870 


VI 


ADVEETISEMENT, 


introduced  unless  they  seemed  to  bear  on  the  question  in 
hand ; while  enough  have  been  given  to  present  each  topic 
objectively.  In  this  way  the  aridity  of  the  ordinary  hand- 
book of  statistics  has  been  avoided,  and  also  the  temptation 
to  use  the  material  merely  to  support  a particular  thesis. 

The  topical  index  is  intended  to  make  the  volume  useful  as 
a dictionary  of  statistics.  The  index  by  countries  will  facil- 
itate reference  when  it  is  desired  to  study  the  relations  of 
various  facts  to  each  other  in  the  same  land.  While  the 
volume  is  not  intended  primarily  as  a manual  of  statistics, 
yet  it  is  hoped  that  by  means  of  the  indexes  it  wiU  be  as 
easily  manageable  as  the  ordinary  manual  and  much  more 
suggestive. 

The  author  lays  considerable  stress  upon  the  somewhat 
formal  arrangement  of  the  material  under  the  heads,  socio- 
logical purpose,  statistical  data,  scientific  tests,  and  reflective 
analysis.  Its  purpose  is  fully  explained  in  Chapter  III.,  on 
Method  of  Study.  It  has  the  further  advantage  that  each 
reader  can  find  that  which  is  of  immediate  concern  to  him. 
The  first  and  last  divisions  are  of  more  general  interest  to  the 
ordinary  reader.  The  second  presents  the  material  in  syste- 
matic form.  The  third  (scientific  tests)  is  intended  particu- 
larly for  the  student  (sociologist  or  statisticiau ) who  desires 
to  know  the  exact  value  of  his  method  and  how  it  is  to  be 
controlled.  An  experience  of  some  years  in  lecturing  on 
statistics  has  convinced  the  author  that  training  in  statistical 
method  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  as  well  as  interesting 
disciplines  for  the  student  of  sociology.  It  is  hoped  that  this 
volume  will  serve  as  a text-book  in  the  statistical  laboratory 
which  will  soon  be  a necessary  adjunct  of  the  teaching  of 
sociology  in  college  and  university. 

It  has  not  been  thought  necessary  to  refer  every  particular 
statistical  figure  to  volume  and  page  of  official  publications. 


ADVEETISEMENT. 


vii 

whicli  would  have  multiplied  references  to  such,  an  extent  as 
to  have  been  wearisome  and  confusing.  The  chief  offieia.1 
authorities  are  referred  to  whenever  a new  subject  is  intro- 
duced, and  subsequent  statements  can  be  easily  verified  from 
the  same  documents.  Secondary  authorities  are  indicated, 
when  used. 

Great  care  has  been  taken  to  verify  all  figures  and  to  avoid 
errors  in  transcription  and  printing.  It  is  impossible,  of 
course,  that  mistakes  have  not  occurred.  The  author  will  be 
grateful  for  correction  of  such  errors,  and  also  to  have  his 
attention  directed  to  what  may  be  considered  mistaken  infer- 
ences. 

The  present  volume  is  issued  as  Part  I.  of  a systematic 
Science  of  Statistics,  and  is  intended  to  cover  what  is  ordi- 
narily termed  Population  Statistics.  The  author  has  in  prep- 
aration Part  II.,  Statistics  and  Economics,  which  will  cover 
the  statistics  of  commerce,  trade,  finance,  and  economic  social 
life  generally. 


264870 


CONTENTS. 


Intkoduction. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Statistics  in  the  Service  of  Sociology. 

Sociology  and  social  phenomena 

DifSculties  of  Sociology . 

Classification  of  social  phenomena  . . . . „ 

Methods  of  observation 

The  Science  of  Statistics . 

The  service  which  Statistics  performs  for  Sociology  . 


CHAPTER  II. 

The  Criteria  of  Statistics. 

The  use  of  the  statistical  method  . . . , 

Collecting  the  material  ...... 

Arranging  and  tabulating  the  material 
Comparing  the  statistics  ...... 

Deducing  statistical  or  sociological  laws  . 


CHAPTER  III. 

Method  of  Study. 

Sociological  purpose  ...... 

Statistical  data 

Scientific  tests  ....... 

Reflective  analysis  ...... 

ix 


FAOB 

1 

3 

6 

7 

8 

14 

17 

19 

22 

24 

26 

29 

31 

32 

35 


X 


CONTENTS. 


Book  I. 


DEMOGRAPHIC. 
CHAPTEE  IV. 

Sex,  Age,  and  Conjugal  Condition. 
Sociological  purpose 

PAGE 

. 36 

Statistical  data : Sex .... 

. 39 

Sex  in  cities 

. 44 

Population  by  age  .... 

. 45 

Military  age 

. 47 

Voting  age 

. 48 

School  age 

. 49 

Average  age  of  the  living  . 

. 50 

Conjugal  condition  .... 

. 51 

Conjugal  condition  by  age 

. 52 

Scientific  tests 

. 56 

Trustworthiness  of  statistics  of  age  . 

. 59 

Statistics  of  conjugal  condition  . 

. 61 

Eeflective  analysis  .... 

. 62 

CHAPTEE  V. 
Births. 


Sociological  purpose  .... 

65 

Statistical  data : Birth-rates 

67 

Influence  of  climate,  geographical  position,  and 

race 

68 

Density  of  population  and  birth-rate 

70 

Birth-rate  in  city  and  country  . 

71 

Births  according  to  religious  confession. 

social 

position,  and  occu- 

pation  of  parents 

73 

Influence  of  war  on  the  birth-rate 

73 

Births  and  the  price  of  food 

74 

Births  according  to  seasons 

75 

Sex  at  birth 

76 

The  living  and  the  still-born 

78 

Multiple  births 

80 

Illegitimate  births  .... 

81 

Scientific  tests  : Method  of  observation 

84 

Basis  for  comparison 

85 

Question  of  the  still-born  . , 

87 

Particular  tests 

88 

Eeflective  analysis  .... 

89 

CONTENTS. 


XI 


CHAPTEE  VI. 

Makkiages. 

PAGE 

Sociological  purpose 93 

Statistical  data : Marriage-rates 95 

Influence  of  climate  and  geographical  position 96 

Marriages  according  to  seasons . 97 

Density  of  population  and  marriage-rate .97 

Marriage-rate  in  city  and  country 98 

Marriages  according  to  race  and  religious  confession  ...  99 

Influence  of  war  on  the  marriage-rate 99 

Marriages  and  the  price  of  food 100 

The  probability  of  marriage 101 

Age  at  marriage 103 

Probability  of  marriage  at  different  ages 107 

Probability  of  marriage  according  to  conjugal  condition  ; by  conju- 
gal condition  and  age 109 

Mixed  marriages  between  persons  of  different  religious  confession, 

race,  or  nationality  . . 110 

Marriages  between  blood  relations 112 

Eecundity  of  marriage 112 

Dissolution  of  marriage 116 

Dissolution  of  marriage  by  divorce 118 

Scientiflc  tests  : Method  of  observation 119 

Basis  for  comparison 121 

Particular  tests 122 

Reflective  analysis  123 

Marriage  and  population 124 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Deaths. 

Sociological  purpose . 128 

Statistical  data : Death-rates . 131 

Influence  of  climate  and  geographical  position 132 

Influence  of  race  and  religion 132 

Density  of  population  and  death-rate 133 

Mortality  in  cities 134 

Death-rates  in  successive  periods  of  time 136 

Effect  of  war  on  deaths  137 

Influence  of  scarcity  of  food  upon  deaths 137 

Influence  of  death-rate  on  birth-rate  ......  139 

Deaths  according  to  seasons 140 

Deaths  according  to  seasons  combined  with  the  ages  of  the  persons 

dying 142 


CONTENTS, 


xii 


PASE 

Deaths  according  to  sex 142 

Deaths  according  to  age 143 

Infantile  mortality 144 

Deaths  according  to  conjugal  condition 146 

Accidental  and  violent  deaths 147 

Deaths  in  the  United  States 148 

Scientific  tests : Method  of  observation 148 

Comparison  of  death-rates 149 

Reflective  analysis 152 


CHAPTER  Vni. 
Sickness  and  Mortality. 


Sociological  purpose 154 

Statistical  data : Statistics  of  sickness 157 

Accident  insurance 159 

The  statistics  of  disease 160 

International  comparison  of  mortality  from  different  diseases  . . 163 

Mortality  according  to  occupations 164 

Duration  of  life 168 

Scientific  tests  : Methods  of  observation 172 

Duration  of  life  : Comparative  death-rates 174 

Average  age  of  the  dying 175 

Average  age  of  the  living 176 

Reflective  analysis 177 


Book  II. 

SOCIAL. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Social  Condition. 

(Families  and  dwellings,  education,  religious  confession,  and 
occupations.) 


Sociological  purpose 181 

Statistical  data : Families 183 

Families  of  different  size 185 

Dwellings 187 

Kind  of  dwelling 188 


CONTENTS.  xiii 

PAGE 

Education 193 

Religious  confession 197 

Occupations 199 

Scientific  tests 203 

Refiective  analysis 206 

CHAPTER  X. 

The  Infirm  and  Dependent. 

Sociological  purpose 210 

Statistical  data 212 

The  blind,  deaf-mutes,  insane,  and  idiotic 213 

The  blind 214 

The  blind  according  to  sex  and  age 215 

The  deaf  and  dumb 217 

The  insane  and  idiotic 219 

Double  or  triple  misfortune 224 

Other  physical  infirmities 226 

Provision  for  the  infirm 228 

Pauperism  (Great  Britain  and  Ireland) 228 

Sex,  conjugal  condition,  and  age  (paupers) 230 

Pauperism  in  other  countries 231 

Pauperism  in  the  United  States 232 

Scientific  tests 233 

Refiective  analysis 235 

CHAPTER  XI. 

Suicide. 

Sociological  purpose 238 

Statistical  data : The  number  of  suicides 241 

Infiuence  of  climate  and  seasons  on  suicide 242 

Ethnological  influences 244 

Social  influences  on  suicide 245 

Influence  of  economic  condition 246 

Suicide  in  cities 246 

Individual  biological  influence 246 

Influence  of  age 247 

Combination  of  age  and  sex 248 

Conjugal  condition  of  suicides 249 

Motive  for  suicide 251 


XIV 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Method  and  place  of  suicide . . 252 

Scientific  tests 253 

Eefiective  analysis 265 

CHAPTER  Xn. 

Ceime. 

Sociological  purpose 259 

Statistical  data 263 

The  kind  of  crime 266 

Particular  crimes 268 

Influences  on  crime 269 

Influence  of  climate  and  geographical  position 270 

Influence  of  the  seasons 271 

City  and  country 272 

General  social  influences  on  crime 273 

Influence  of  religious  confession 274 

Influence  of  social  position 274 

Occupation  and  profession 275 

Illiteracy  and  crime 276 

Economic  condition,  scarcity  of  food,  and  war 277 

IndiTidual  biological  influence 277 

Conjugal  condition  and  criminality 278 

Motives  for  crime 279 

Penalties 280 

Habitual  criminals 281 

Scientific  tests 283 

Reflective  analysis 288 


Book  III. 

ETHNOGRAPHIC. 

CHAPTER  Xm. 

Race  and  Nationality. 

Sociological  purpose 289 

Statistical  data  : Statistics  of  races 293 

Race  in  the  United  States 296 

Nationalities  in  the  United  States 299 

Foreign  parentage 302 


CONTENTS. 


XV 


PAGB 

Intermarriage  . . 304 

Scientific  tests 306 

Reflective  analysis 312 

CHAPTER  XTV. 

Migration. 

Sociological  purpose 314 

Statistical  data : Emigration 317 

Emigration  and  population 318 

Immigration  in  the  United  States 321 

Immigration  according  to  race 322 

Nationalities 322 

Immigrants  according  to  sex  and  age 323 

Occupation  of  immigrants 324 

Economic  and  social  condition 324 

Causes  of  migration 325 

Balance  of  emigration  and  immigration 326 

Effect  of  immigration  on  population 327 

Immigration  in  other  countries 329 

Internal  migration 329 

Scientific  tests 332 

Reflective  analysis 336 


Book  IV. 

ENVIRONMENT. 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Population  and  Land  (Physical  Envieonmrnt). 

Sociological  purpose 341 

Statistical  data : Density  of  population 343 

In  Europe 344 

In  the  United  States 346 

Distribution  of  population  by  topographical  features  . . . 349 

Distribution  of  population  according  to  temperature,  rainfall,  humid- 
ity, and  character  of  the  soil 351 

Scientific  tests 353 

Reflective  analysis 356 


XVI 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

Population  and  Civilization  (Social  Environment). 

t 

The  social  environment 

Size  of  communities 

Colonial  povyer 

Concentration  of  population  in  cities 

Wealth  and  social  position 

Social  environment  and  race 

The  law  of  population 

Social  environment  and  statistics 

Social  environment  and  free-will 


Index  by  Topics 
Index  by  Countries 


PAGE 

361 

363 

364 

365 

371 

372 

377 

381 

382 

383 

395 


STATISTICS  ATO  SOCIOLOGY. 


INTROB  UCTION. 

CHAPTER  I. 

STATISTICS  IN  THE  SEEVICE  OE  SOCIOLOGY. 

Sociology  is  the  science  which  treats  of  social  organ- 
ization. It  has  for  object  of  research  the  laws  which  seem 
to  underlie  the  relations  of  men  in  society.  The  second 
definition  is  no  more  comprehensive  than  the  first.  For 
by  law  we  mean  the  ordinary  empirical  law,  namely,  the 
necessary  connection  which  subsists  between  a phenom- 
enon and  the  conditions  under  which  that  phenomenon 
exists.  In  formulating  sociological  laws,  therefore,  we 
are  simply  describing  the  facts  of  social  organization  and 
the  way  those  facts  are  related  to  each  other.  If  by  syn- 
thesis of  all  the  facts  and  relations  we  are  able  to  arrive 
at  any  conclusions  in  regard  to  the  ends  of  social  organ- 
ization or  are  able  to  detect  the  goal  towards  which 
changes  in  social  organization  seem  to  be  leading  and  the 
successive  steps  in  the  line  of  progress,  then  we  have  a 
philosophy  of  society  or  a theory  of  social  progress,  which 
is  also  sometimes  called  Sociology. 

The  fundamental  thing,  however,  is  the  study  of  social 
phenomena  or  the  facts  of  the  social  organization.  For 
whatever  our  synthesis  may  be,  it  will  depend  for  its 


9 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


validity  upon  the  correct  analysis  and  interpretation  of 
the  phenomena.  Sociology  has  not  yet  reached  that  stage 
of  development  where  the  discovery  of  some  great  cen- 
tral truth  enables  us  to  change  from  the  inductive  to  the 
deductive  method. 

What  are  social  phenomena  ? They  are  obviously  the 
facts  and  relations  existing  in  human  life  in  society. 
They  are  not  the  same  as  the  facts  and  relations  of  man’s 
life  simply  as  an  animal.  If  they  were,  Sociology  would 
be  a branch  of  biology,  and  Darwinism  would  be  as  true 
of  the  social  struggles  of  man  as  of  the  struggles  of  brutes. 
They  are  not  simply  psychological,  for  in  many  respects 
the  action  of  the  mass,  society,  is  not  explicable  by  the 
psychology  of  the  individual.  Since  the  individual  man 
is  an  animal  and  has  a mind,  it  is  true,  indeed,  that  Soci- 
ology is  intimately  connected  with  biology  and  psychol- 
ogy. The  continuance  of  a society  depends  upon  the 
reproductive  powers  of  its  individuals,  and  births  and 
deaths  are  primarily  pure  physiological  processes  ; but 
births  and  deaths  are  influenced  by  many  other  things 
besides  the  laws  of  mere  animal  reproduction  and  survi- 
val. Psychology  of  the  individual  reveals  the  self-regard- 
ing motives ; but  they  are  not  the  only  nor  even  the 
dominant  motives  which  hold  society  together.  Social 
phenomena  are  of  their  own  kind.  The  units  which  con- 
tribute to  the  social  organization,  unlike  those  which  make 
up  an  animal  organism,  are  endowed  with  sensibility  and 
consciousness.  In  many  cases,  especially  in  the  higher 
forms  of  society,  they  unite  among  themselves  in  a purely 
contractual  relation.^  There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that 
even  these  purely  contractual  relations  are  subject  to  reg- 
ularities, f.e.,  law.  These  relations  are  sociological  rela- 
tions and  must  be  treated  as  such. 

Recognizing  that  Sociology  has  to  do  simply  with  the 
facts  and  relations  of  social  organization,  we  are  confronted 
iDe  Greef,  Les  lois  sociologiques,  p.  26. 


STATISTICS  IN  THE  SERVICE  OE  SOCIOLOGY. 


3 


at  once  with  two  great  difficulties,  — one  is  the  enormous 
number  and  complexity  of  the  social  phenomena  to  be 
described  ; the  second  is  the  lack  of  any  precise  means  of 
measuring  or  gauging  social  forces,  that  is,  of  estimating 
the  degree  of  intensity  in  the  relations  of  social  phenom- 
ena to  each  other. 

The  first  difficulty  is  recognized  on  all  sides  and  often 
serves  sociologists  as  an  excuse  that  their  science  is  not 
more  precise  and  perfect,  while  on  the  other  hand  it  leads 
to  the  denial  in  some  quarters  that  a science  of  society  is 
possible.  How  can  we  pretend,  it  is  asked,  to  examine 
and  understand  all  the  numerous  facts  of  social  organiza- 
tion and  social  activity?  Take  the  highly  developed 
apparatus  by  which  a civilized  society  satisfies  its  various 
wants,  — its  perpetuation,  its  material  support,  its  ees- 
thetic,  ethical,  intellectual,  and  religious  needs.  Then  try 
to  comprehend  all  these  things  for  all  stages  of  civiliza- 
tion and  for  all  circumstances  under  which  man  is  placed 
in  this  world.  Or  take  one  simple  problem,  — that  of  the 
perpetuation  of  the  race,  — and  explain  the  variety  of 
marriage  customs  and  of  treatment  of  children,  and  the 
variation  of  the  birth-rate  according  to  climate,  race  and 
nationality,  social  and  economic  condition,  city  and  coun- 
try, occupations,  social  customs  and  religious  influences. 
Sociologists  try  to  escape  this  difficulty  by  the  assertion 
that  a science  may  be  certain  without  being  exact,  but 
such  a plea  is  a confession  of  weakness. 

The  second  difficulty  is  commonly  expressed  as  that 
of  defining  and  measuring  social  forces.  It  is  very  easy 
to  speak  of  establishing  or  discovering  relations  of  cause 
and  effect.  But  here  as  elsewhere  every  cause  is  an 
effect  and  every  effect  a cause,  and  even  between  two 
phenomena  it  is  often  difficult  to  say  which  is  cause  and 
which  is  effect.  Still  further,  every  effect  in  social  action 
or  life  is  the  resultant  of  many  causes,  and  it  is  almost 
impossible  to  disentangle  and  measure  the  intensity  of 


4 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


the  various  causes.  Does  city  life  cause  the  large  amount 
of  crime  in  large  cities,  or  does  the  sex,  age,  and  parent- 
age distribution  of  urban  populations  bring  it  about  that 
a large  amount  of  crime  is  localized,  so  to  speak,  in  large 
cities  ? And  if  both  factors  are  at  work  as  well  as,  say, 
a decline  in  the  religious  spirit,  what  part  does  each  play 
in  the  result  ? The  large  amount  of  violent  crime  in  the 
building  trades  in  Germany  is  due  not  to  any  influence 
of  occupation,  but  simply  to  the  fact  that  many  of  the 
working  men  in  those  trades  are  youths  in  the  passionate 
and  reckless  period  of  life.  On  the  other  hand,  the  short 
life  of  publicans  in  England  is  ascribed  to  the  influence 
of  the  trade  with  its  constant  temptations  to  drink. 

It  may  be  remarked  in  passing  that  possibly  sociolo- 
gists have  exaggerated  the  complexity  of  social  phe- 
nomena and  the  action  of  social  forces  in  comparison 
with  the  difficulties  of  natural  science.  To  the  lay  mind, 
biological  forms,  from  palseontological  fossils  to  the  exist- 
ing mammals,  present  a bewildering  complexity  and  an 
incomprehensible  confusion,  very  similar  to  that  offered 
by  social  phenomena.  It  is  only  the  “ scientific  imagina- 
tion ” that  makes  the  working  of  natural  forces,  by  which 
planets  are  evolved  out  of  gas  and  human  beings  out  of 
protoplasm,  seem  so  simple  that  a schoolboy  speaks  of  it 
as  glibly  as  we  used  to  speak  of  the  creation  of  the  world 
in  six  days.  Are  the  gaps  in  Sociology  any  more  serious 
than  those  conceded  to  exist,  when  the  geologists  and  the 
biologists  are  honest  with  us,  in  the  history  of  the  earth 
and  in  the  evolutiou  of  man  ? In  the  presence  of  the 
“ scientific  imagination  ” are  not  all  these  difficulties  of 
the  same  kind  and  different  in  degree  only  ? 

Sociologists  themselves  have  perhaps  added  to  the  ap- 
parent difficulties  of  their  science  as  regards  both  the 
collection  and  the  explanation  of  its  data.  They  have 
accumulated  an  enormous  number  of  facts  without  dis- 
criminating clearly  between  those  which  are  of  impor- 


STATISTICS  IN  THE  SERVICE  OF  SOCIOLOGY. 


5 


tance  and  those  which  are  certainly  of  less  importance, 
between  those  which  are  typical  and  universal  and  those 
which  are  accidental  and  local.  They  have  taken  all 
history,  all  archaeology,  all  observations  of  travellers,  as 
material  for  their  science,  and  have  treated  all  this  mate- 
rial as  equally  valuable.  Now,  all  actions  of  men  in 
society  certainly  have  some  relation  to  social  organiza- 
tion and  social  change.  But  it  is  impossible  to  believe 
that  all  have  equal  value  in  revealing  to  us  the  principles 
of  that  organization  or  the  direction  of  those  changes. 
We  must  make  a choice  in  some  way,  or  the  material  will 
be  unmanageable. 

Again,  instead  of  contenting  themselves  with  seeking 
simple  relations  of  cause  and  effect,  of  co-existence  and 
of  sequence  in  social  phenomena,  sociologists  have  often 
substituted  an  artificial  classification  with  an  artificial 
terminology,  and  considered  that  as  an  explanation  of 
social  life.  These  classifications  are  most  often  based  on 
biological  analogies,  as  is  the  case  with  the  sustaining, 
circulating,  and  regulating  systems  of  Spencer,  which  cor- 
respond to  the  digestive,  vascular,  and  nervous  systems 
of  vital  organisms.  Or  we  have  the  social  anatomy, 
physiology,  pathology,  and  psychology  of  Schaffle.  Many 
sociologists,  it  is  true,  admit  that  these  are  merely  analo- 
gies, and  that  the  social  organism,  if  there  be  such  a 
thing,  is  something  different  from  the  organism  of  an 
animal,  claiming  only  that  there  is  an  interrelation  and 
dependence  of  parts  similar  to  what  we  find  in  an  animal 
organism.  But  the  tendency  of  all  this  elaboration  is  to 
give  the  impression  that  the  analogy  is  the  explanation. 

It  is  not  difficult,  however,  to  define  with  some  precision 
the  range  of  phenomena  which  furnish  the  material  for 
Sociology,  and  the  method  by  which  this  material  should 
be  treated  so  as  to  enable  us  to  measure  social  forces.  If 
we  can  do  this,  we  shall  escape  the  danger  of  being  over- 
whelmed by  the  multiplicity  of  phenomena  and  avoid  the 


6 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


cheap  and  unsatisfactory  makeshift  of  an  explanation  based 
on  superficial  analogies. 

The  phenomena  which  we  have  to  observe  in  Sociology 
are  those  of  the  social  organization.  The  social  forces 
which  we  have  to  measure  are  those  revealed  by  the 
relations  of  these  phenomena  to  each  other.  But  since 
Sociology  does  not  deal  with  the  individual  man,  but  with 
societies  of  men,  it  is  evident  that  its  whole  material  may 
be  comprehended  in  the  single  term,  popidation.  Those 
facts  of  population  which  reveal  the  laws  of  social  organ- 
ization are  the  facts  which  are  of  importance  for  Sociology, 
and  no  others.  That  men  differ  in  race,  nationality, 
religious  belief,  and  ethical  standards  is  an  important  fact ; 
that  they  differ  in  height,  weight,  colour  of  eyes  and 
hair,  is  of  much  less  importance.  Our  material  may  be 
arranged  as  follows : 

I.  Population  in  itself  is  a very  general  conception,  and 
does  not  carry  us  far  in  describing  social  organization.  It 
is  necessary  to  proceed  at  once  to  classification.  The 
most  important  lines  of  classification  are  as  follows  : 

Demographic  Classes.  The  individuals  of  the  popula- 
tion are  distinguished  according  to  differences  of  sex,  age, 
conjugal  condition,  and  physical  health.  Connected  with 
this  classification  we  have  the  social  phenomena  of  births, 
deaths,  marriages,  and  sickness.  All  these  are  important 
facts  influencing  the  social  organization  of  every  com- 
munity. 

Social  Glasses.  Men  differ  in  social  position,  religious 
confession,  occupation,  material  condition,  and  ethical  con- 
duct. The  differences  in  societies  in  these  respects  often 
mark  the  stages  of  social  well-being  and  make  for  progress, 
peace,  and  stability  on  the  one  hand,  or  retrogression, 
discord,  and  instability  on  the  other. 

Ethnographic  Classes.  Men  differ  in  race,  blood,  and 
nationality ; hence  societies  differ  in  ethnic  composition, 
race  character,  national  ideals,  and  political  allegiance. 


STATISTICS  IN  THE  SERVICE  OE  SOCIOLOGY. 


7 


These  facts  have  attracted  much  attention  because  they 
underlie  political  science. 

II.  Physical  Environment.  Population  is  possible,  of 
course,  only  as  conditioned  by  physical  environment. 
The  relations  of  population  organized  in  society  to  the 
land  are  important  facts  for  Sociology,  and  these  relations 
have  to  be  follo^ved  out  in  all  the  divisions  of  population 
noted  above. 

III.  Social  Environment.  As  men  live  together  in 
social  relations  they  develop  language,  customs,  institu- 
tions, social  and  ethical  standards  and  ideals.  These 
constitute  what  Herbert  Spencer  calls  the  superorganic 
environment.  By  them  all  the  phenomena  of  social  life  are 
modified,  and  the  new  relations  thus  established  are,  per- 
haps, the  most  important  elements  of  social  organization. 
The  relation  of  population  to  the  physical  environment 
is  also  very  much  modified  by  these  influences. 

IV.  Finally,  we  have  the  fact  that  social  relations  are 
changing.  It  is  necessary  to  trace  these  changes  and  how 
they  affect  social  organization.  It  is  here  that  we  come 
across  the  doctrine  of  social  forces  and  need  some  scientific 
method  of  measuring  their  strength.  This  is  sometimes 
called  dynamic  sociology,  but  the  distinction  is  not  an 
important  one  for  us,  as  in  our  study  we  shall  find  that  all 
society  is  dynamic. 

Such  is  the  field  of  Sociology,  large,  indeed,  but  perfectly 
well  defined. 

The  next  question  is,  what  methods  shall  we  use  to  ob- 
serve these  facts  of  social  organization  and  social  change  ? 

The  methods  to  be  employed  are  those  common  to  all 
exact  sciences,  viz.,  observation,  analysis,  induction,  and 
generalization.  We  first  observe  the  facts  and  relations  of 
the  social  organization.  We  then  analyze  and  classify 
according  to  similarities  and  dissimilarities.  By  induction 
we  reach  to  relations  of  co-existence  or  sequence,  and  by 
generalization  we  strive  to  attain  to  formulae  expressing 


8 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


these  relations.  We  strive,  in  short,  to  describe  the  social 
organization  in  its  main  lines  and  the  nature  of  the  changes 
going  on.^ 

Thus  far  our  method  is  purely  descriptive,  or,  as  regards 
the  changes  in  society,  it  may  be  termed  historical.  Up  to 
this  point  the  analysis  is  purely  qualitative. 

But  in  order  that  Sociology  shall  become  a science 
it  is  necessary  to  have  not  only  qualitative  distinctions, 
but  also  quantitative  measurements.  Description  itself 
often  implies  at  least  enumeration,  as  when  we  describe 
population  according  to  sex,  age,  and  conjugal  condition. 
Classification,  again,  is  a method  of  description  by  enu- 
meration, as  when  we  arrange  societies  according  to  form 
of  religious  belief,  fetichism,  polytheism,  and  monotheism, 
or  classify  the  members  of  a given  community,  as  Protes- 
tants, Catholics,  and  Jews.  Mere  description  may,  indeed, 
suffice  to  prove  the  co-existence  of  social  phenomena,  as 
we  find  savagery  accompanied  by  fetichism,  a rude  eco- 
nomic organization,  little  government,  and  low  standards 
of  conduct.  But  co-existences  may  be  defined  more  sharply 
by  enumeration,  as  when  we  compare  the  number  of 
illegitimate  births  in  a Catholic  population  with  those 
in  a Protestant  similarly  situated.  And  when  we  come 
to  sequences  in  time  which  seem  to  bear  the  relation  of 
cause  and  effect,  we  need  quantitative  measurements. 
A scarcity  of  food  retards  the  natural  increase  of  popu- 
lation. This  may  be  demonstrated  more  conclusively  by 
comparing  the  increasing  price  of  food  with  the  increased 
death-rate  and  the  diminished  marriage  and  bii’th-rate. 
Wherever  it  is  possible,  we  seek  to  supplement  our  quali- 
tative descriptions  with  quantitative  measurements. 

It  is  the  Science  of  Statistics  that  serves  this  purpose. 
It  gives  us  the  quantitative  measurements  of  social  phe- 
nomena which  are  required  for  the  analysis  of  social 
organization,  z.e.,  for  Sociology. 

1 De  Greef , op,  cit. 


STATISTICS  m THE  SERVICE  OE  SOCIOLOGY. 


9 


Statistics  consists  in  the  observation  of  phenomena  which 
can  be  counted  or  expressed  in  figures.  It  always  finds 
a quantitative  expression  for  phenomena  or  their  rela- 
tions. 

It  must  be  observed  that  the  method  of  statistical  ob- 
servation is  not  of  universal  application.  In  some  cases 
it  is  uimecessary,  in  others  it  is  inadequate.  In  order 
to  perceive  the  connection  between  savagery  and  fetichism 
it  is  not  necessary  for  us  to  have  statistics  either  of  eco- 
nomic condition  or  of  religious  confession.  The  fact  stands 
out  of  itself  simply  by  the  consensus  of  observation  of  trav- 
ellers and  historians.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  difficult  to 
express  the  relation  between  economic  condition  or  relig- 
ious feeling  and  gesthetic  development,  in  a civilized  state, 
because  music,  painting,  and  sculpture  cannot  in  any  way 
be  measured  statistically.  This  is  a question  of  quality, 
and  not  in  any  sense  one  of  quantity. 

But  there  are  many  phenomena  which  allow  of  quanti- 
tative measurement,  or  at  least  of  comparison  of  greater 
or  less.  In  mentioning  these  we  shall  follow  the  order 
indicated  above. 

All  classification  of  population,  whether  on  demographic, 
social,  or  ethnographic  lines,  is  on  the  basis  of  statistics. 
Demographic  distinctions  (age,  sex,  and  conjugal  condi- 
tion) are  fundamental  for  any  society,  and  their  influence 
pervades  the  whole  social  organization.  The  distinctions 
seem  to  be  very  simple,  being  given  either  by  nature  (sex 
and  age)  or  by  well-established  social  institutions  (conjugal 
condition).  But  back  of  the  mere  classification  lie  the 
great  social  factors,  birth,  marriage,  and  death,  which 
make  up  and  control  the  life  both  of  the  individual 
and  of  society.  Vital  statistics  not  only  measure  the 
growth  or  decay  of  population,  but  reveal  to  us  normal 
and  abnormal  conditions,  the  working  of  great  social  in- 
fluences or  the  presence  of  anti-social  forces.  A decreas- 
ing marriage-rate,  — is  it  a sign  of  forethought  and  pru- 


10 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


dence  or  an  indication  of  luxury  and  vice  ? and  what  will 
be  the  result  on  population  and  social  morality  ? 

Social  classes  may  be  differentiated  according  to  relig- 
ious confession,  economic  condition  (paupers),  degree  of 
education  (illiterates),  ethical  conduct  (criminals),  occu- 
pation (professional  classes),  or  acquired  position  (upper 
and  lower  classes).  The  distinctions  are  not  always 
easy  to  make,  but  when  we  consider  the  bitterness  of 
the  struggle  associated  with  these  divisions  of  society 
into  groups,  their  importance  for  Sociology  must  be 
apparent. 

Ethnographic  grouping  is  on  various  lines.  We  have 
first  the  races  of  man,  f.e.,  groups  characterized  by  com- 
mon descent  or  by  association  for  so  many  generations 
that  the  individuals  have  acquired  a common  trait  such  as 
colour  of  skin,  shape  of  head,  or  quality  of  hair.  Or  we 
may  have  nationalities  speaking  the  same  language,  or 
living  in  the  same  territory,  or  owing  allegiance  to  the 
same  government. 

Any  analysis  of  mankind  according  to  these  various 
forms  of  association  depends  upon  statistics,  for  the  only 
quantitative  measurements  we  have  for  these  relations  is 
enumeration  of  the  number  of  individuals  in  a group. 

This  enmneration  seems  to  be  a very  simple  matter,  but 
it  is  of  fundamental  importance.  The  mere  size  of  ethno- 
graphic groups,  for  instance,  is  of  sociological  interest. 
A large  number  of  petty  hordes  in  a state  of  constant 
hostility,  and  a small  number  of  powerful  nations  whose 
dealings  with  one  another,  if  not  always  peaceful,  are  at 
least  regulated  by  more  or  less  well-defined  rule  or  cus- 
tom,— these  constitute  two  widely  different  types  of  hu- 
man society.  The  social  activity  of  the  petty  republic  of 
Andorra  with  its  population  of  6000  souls  is  not  the  same 
as  that  of  the  British  empire  with  its  350,000,000.  The 
difference  is  primarily  one  of  mere  numbers,  but  it  per- 
vades all  the  relations  of  social  life,  even  the  intellectual 


STATISTICS  IN  THE  SERVICE  OF  SOCIOLOGY.  11 


and  artistic.  The  relative  size  of  demographic  and  social 
groups  is  even  more  important. 

Still  further,  statistical  analysis  is  not  confined  to  the 
mere  enumeration  of  population  according  to  these  classifi- 
cations. Each  group  must  in  turn  be  studied  according 
to  the  characteristics  of  the  other  methods  of  association. 
If  we  analyze  society  into  political  groups,  — that  is,  bodies 
of  men  inhabiting  a fixed  territory  and  under  the  same 
government, — the  population  in  each  of  these  groups  may 
be  still  further  analyzed  according  to  sex,  age,  and  con- 
jugal condition,  according  to  economic  condition  and 
social  position,  and  according  to  race,  language,  and 
nationality.  Two  political  groups  numerically  equal  may 
possess  a very  unequal  political  significance  if  their  popu- 
lations exhibit  great  differences  of  constitution  on  eco- 
nomic or  ethnical  lines.  Roumania  does  not  have  the 
same  social  significance  as  Belgium  with  the  same  popula- 
tion. Switzerland  is  peculiarly  constituted  with  its  three 
equally  privileged  nationalities.  Who  will  say  what  the 
characteristics  of  the  future  population  of  the  United 
States  will  be  with  its  mixture  of  nationalities?  How 
often  the  social  prosperity  of  a country  has  been  sacri- 
ficed by  religious  divisions  ! How  often  has  a state  been 
wrecked  by  social  and  economic  antitheses ! In  fact, 
we  find  here  one  of  the  favourite  devices  of  the  old  phi- 
losophy of  history  which  explained  the  decay  and  fall  of 
nations  or  civilizations  by  these  irreconcilable  antitheses. 
Sociology  cannot  refuse  to  notice  these  same  relations,  and 
it  measures  them  by  means  of  statistics. 

The  task  of  Statistics  in  all  this  classification  is  not  one 
of  mere  enumeration,  but  of  distinction.  What  are  the 
real  marks  of  race  ? What  is  the  real  meaning  of  nation- 
ality, and  what  can  we  take  as  a distinctive  trait, — 
language,  common  origin,  or  subjection  to  the  same  gov- 
ernment? Are  the  Germans  of  Austria  and  the  Ger- 
man speaking  Swiss  of  the  same  nationality?  Are  the 


12 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


Englisliman  and  the  Irishman  of  the  same  race?  Are  the 
negro  and  the  white  in  the  United  States  alike  Amer- 
icans? In  social  grouping  these  questions  of  statistical 
method  are  of  equal  difficulty  and  importance.  What  is 
the  true  line  between  the  rich  and  the  poor,  the  mental 
and  manual  labourer,  the  moral  and  the  vicious,  the  crim- 
inal and  the  ignorant  trespasser  ? 

We  have  thus  far  considered  only  the  analysis  of  popu- 
lation or  societies  according  to  certain  characteristics. 
But  this  is  mere  descriptive  sociology.  We  cannot  stop 
here.  Sociology  demands  not  only  description  but  com- 
parison. According  to  what  rules  do  these  social  facts 
co-exist?  What  is  their  relation  to  each  other?  What 
economic  constitution  of  a society  is  able  to  co-exist  with 
what  moral  condition  ? What  race  condition  is  able  to  co- 
exist with  what  intellectual  or  political  condition  ? Here 
everything  does  not  lend  itself  to  statistical  measurement, 
but  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  statistical  method  is 
our  most  important  instrument  of  investigation. 

We  have  here  the  relations  existing  between  population 
and  the  external  world.  We  study  the  density  of  popula- 
tion in  accordance  with  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  the  climate, 
and  the  orographic  and  hydrographic  character  of  the  land. 
We  study  the  economic  condition  of  the  population  (its 
average  wealth)  under  these  same  categories.  We  stud)^ 
vital  conditions  (births,  deaths,  infirmities,  and  disease) 
in  the  same  way.  We  study  moral  conditions  — e.g.^ 
suicide  and  crime  — according  to  climate  and  season  of 
the  year.  The  method  is  a very  simple  one  — it  is  simply 
the  plus  or  minus,  the  greater  or  less  frequency  of  one 
characteristic  of  the  population  (e.g.^  disease)  compared 
with  the  plus  or  minus  of  some  characteristic  of  the 
physical  environment  (e.g.,  elevation  above  the  sea). 
Yet  it  is  always  a quantitative  measurement,  and  without 
statistics  we  should  be  helpless.  And  here  the  office  of 
Statistics,  as  we  shall  see  in  the  next  chapter,  is  not  merely 


STATISTICS  IN  THE  SERVICE  OF  SOCIOLOGY.  IS 


to  count,  but  to  say  what  shall  be  counted  and  bow  that 
which  is  counted  in  one  direction  (population)  shall  be 
compared  with  that  which  has  been  counted  in  another 
direction  (environment).  This  embraces  the  whole  tech- 
nique of  statistical  method.  And  any  sociology  which 
springs  from  the  notion  that  man  and  society  are  the 
expression  of  the  working  of  natural  forces,  must  depend 
upon  statistics  for  its  material  and  its  proof. 

But  an  even  more  delicate  and  important  field  for  statis- 
tical inquiry  is  the  co-existence  of  these  social  phenomena 
among  themselves.  This  is  the  Spencerian  influence  of 
the  superorganic  environment.  It  is  the  interlacing  of 
the  different  social  phenomena  so  that  they  form  together 
something  different  from  their  mere  sum,  viz.,  an  organic 
whole.  The  economic  phenomena  cannot  exist  and  be  as 
they  are  without  the  political,  or  the  moral,  or  the  relig- 
ious phenomena  ; and  each  of  the  latter  is  equally  depend- 
ent upon  the  others.  It  is  the  delicate  office  of  statistical 
science  to  prove  this  relation  and  to  give  a quantitative 
measurement  of  it. 

Examples  abound  on  all  sides.  The  distinction  of  sex 
is  accompanied  by  a different  age  classification,  by  differ- 
ent average  length  of  life,  by  different  disposition  to  com- 
mit crime.  Varying  age  constitution  of  populations  means 
different  economic  power,  different  rate  of  natural  increase, 
different  military  strength.  Economic  condition  is  a con- 
trolling influence  apparently  in  the  relative  frequency  of 
crimes  against  the  person  and  against  property.  Illiteracy 
is  accompanied  by  a low  rate  of  suicide  and  a high  rate  of 
crimes  against  the  person.  Race  seems  reflected  with  con- 
stant fidelity  in  some  of  the  phenomena  of  man’s  social 
life,  while  religious  confession  has  influence  in  directions 
where  we  should  scarcely  expect  to  find  it,  such  as  insan- 
ity, still-birth,  and  illegitimacy.  We  have  here  the  true 
field  for  statistical  comparison.  We  do  not  get  exact  pro- 
portions, but  we  get  corresponding  elevations  and  depres- 


14 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


sions.  As,  for  instance,  in  those  counties  of  Bavaria  where 
the  women  are  employed  in  factory  and  field,  we  get 
constantly  high  rates  of  infant  mortality.  In  the  same 
country  when  the  laws  (juristic  organization)  made  mar- 
riage difficult,  we  had  an  enormous  rate  of  illegitimacy, 
and  the  rate  continued  high  even  after  the  laws  had  been 
repealed,  showing  that  the  acquired  social  disposition  was 
more  powerful  than  legislation.  When  now  we  find 
everywhere  corresponding  economic  conditions  accompa- 
nied by  the  same  social  results,  we  begin  to  discern  regu- 
larities which  may  be  called  sociological  laws. 

Dynamic  sociology  gives  us  precisely  the  same  opportu- 
nity of  measuring  social  phenomena  by  the  statistical 
method,  only  the  application  is  more  delicate  and  difficult. 
Societies  are  constantly  changing  and  the  relations  of 
functions  and  organs  constantly  change.  In  these  changes 
can  we  detect  cause  and  effect?  When  the  food  supply 
decreases  and  crime  increases,  is  the  former  the  cause  of 
the  latter  ? As  intellectual  progress  proceeds  and  suicide 
grows  more  frequent,  is  the  latter  phenomenon  the  neces- 
sary result  of  the  former  ? We  have  here  all  the  facts  of 
vital  statistics  to  be  brought  into  sequence  of  time  with 
each  other  and  with  the  remaining  social  facts.  A society 
grows  by  the  excess  of  births  over  deaths.  What  is  the 
relation  of  the  two  to  each  other  and  to  that  great  social 
function,  marriage  ? Marriages  become  more  frequent 
with  economic  prosperity.  The  number  of  births  is 
influenced  (although  not  always  to  the  same  degree)  by 
the  number  of  marriages.  Mortality  increases  with  births, 
but  in  a peculiar  way.  How  shall  we  watch  these  funda- 
mental phenomena  of  a growing  society  except  by  the 
statistical  comparison  of  the  relative  number  of  marriages, 
births,  and  deaths  through  successive  years  ? 

The  service  which  Statistics  performs  for  Sociology  is  not 
always  of  the  same  kind  nor  of  the  same  degree  of  exact- 
ness. Sometimes  statistics  reveal  only  regularities  which 


STATISTICS  IN  THE  SEEVICE  OF  SOCIOLOGY.  15 


we  have  as  yet  been  unable  to  explain,  as,  for  instance,  the 
constant  excess  of  boys  over  girls  among  the  new-born. 
It  sometimes  points  out  regularities  which  are  explicable, 
but  which  become  very  striking  when  the  regularities 
continue,  as  the  proportion  of  male  criminals  to  female. 
The  man,  more  violent,  more  impatient,  more  subject  to 
temptation  in  life  than  the  woman,  might  naturally  enough 
be  expected  to  be  represented  more  munerously  in  the 
criminal  class  than  the  latter.  But  when  we  find  the  pro- 
portion remaining  the  same  year  after  year,  the  strength 
of  these  influences  is  strikingly  apparent. 

But  the  grand  office  of  Statistics  is  to  direct  our  atten- 
tion to  possible  relations  of  cause  and  effect  which  might 
otherwise  have  escaped  our  notice,  or  which  would  scarcely 
have  been  thought  of  as  invariably  present.  That  the 
infliction  of  certain  penalties  has  little  effect  in  prevent- 
ing crime  is  brought  home  to  us  painfully  by  the  statistics 
of  the  habitual  criminals.  That  it  has  less  effect  on 
women  than  on  men  might  not  have  been  suspected, 
except  from  the  actual  statistics.  We  get  from  statistics 
indications  of  relations  which  maintain  themselves  with 
a persistence  and  constancy  that  give  us  an  impressive 
sense  of  the  reign  of  law  in  the  social  actions  of  men. 

It  is  this  reign  of  law  which  we  desire  to  see  revealed. 
We  desire  to  look  beyond  the  accidental  and  temporary 
and  see  the  grand  forces  by  which  human  affairs  are  gov- 
erned. This  is  not  atheism  or  rationalism,  for  we  say 
nothing  about  the  first  cause,  and  to  discover  regularities 
in  the  social  world  no  more  impeaches  the  divine  goodness 
than  to  discover  that  a flower  is  built  upon  a symmetrical 
plan.  Nor  is  it  fatalistic,  for  it  does  not  deny  that  man’s 
actions  are  governed  by  subjective  motives,  but  it  shows 
that  in  many  cases  these  motives  are  controlled  by  great 
influences  exerting  themselves  on  masses  of  men.  Nor 
does  this  attempt  to  show  the  reign  of  law  result  in  pessi- 
mistic views  as  to  social  reform  and  amelioration,  for  if 


16 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


certain  causes  produce  certain  effects,  it  is  obvious  that 
by  changing  the  causes  we  shall  produce  other  effects,  and 
this  is  the  only  basis  for  the  possibility  of  social  reform. 
Statistics  enables  us  to  catch  glimpses  of  these  relations 
and  hence  to  predicate  the  existence  of  social  laws.  It 
may  not  enable  us  to  formulate  the  law  exactly,  or  to  con- 
struct a perfect  system  of  sociology,  but  it  helps  us  on  our 
way  to  attain  the  desired  end. 

This  leads  us  to  say  one  final  word  about  Statistics  in 
the  service  of  Sociology.  We  are  surrounded  by  socio- 
logical or  social  problems  which  urgently  demand  solu- 
tion. We  cannot  wait  for  the  completed  science;  we 
must  seek  to  understand  the  conditions  affecting  the 
particular  problem  before  us.  This  may  be  called  practi- 
cal sociology.  Everywhere  in  this  domain  we  find  Statis- 
tics a useful  instrument  of  investigation.  In  fact  the 
primary  object  of  collecting  statistics  is  to  serve  adminis- 
trative purposes  and  to  guide  legislation.  A government 
must  know  about  the  statistics  of  trade,  of  finance,  of  the 
military  and  economic  resources  of  the  nation.  It  should 
know  equally  about  the  economic  and  social  condition  of 
its  citizens.  Evils  which  are  to  be  remedied,  such  as  the 
prevalence  of  disease,  of  vice,  of  crime,  and  their  connec- 
tion with  other  phenomena,  such  as  economic  condition, 
sanitary  surroundings,  illiteracy,  vicious  moral  training, 
etc.,  must  be  clearly  described  before  they  can  be  pro- 
ceeded against  practically.  Many  schemes  of  social 
amelioration  are  altogether  illusory  because  they  do 
not  comprehend  the  real  cause  of  the  evil.  In  practical 
sociology  thus  we  have  a constant  demand  for  scientific 
statistical  measurements  and  descriptions. 


CHAPTER  II. 


THE  CBITEEIA  OP  STATISTICS. 

Statistics  is  one  extremely  useful  instrument  of  in- 
vestigation in  Sociology.  It  has  lately  been  affirmed  that 
it  is  the  most  useful  and  potent  instrument  which  that 
science  possesses,  and  there  has  been  and  is  a tendency 
among  some  writers  to  expand  Statistics,  so  that  it  be- 
comes in  itself  a scheme  of  social  science,  covering  all 
the  phenomena  of  social  human  life.^  It  is  not  necessary 
for  our  present  purpose  to  discuss  the  question  whether 
Statistics  is  a science  like  Sociology,  or  is  only  a scientific 
method  of  investigation  like  the  science  of  microscopy. 
It  is  certainly  the  latter  even  if  it  be  not  the  former. 

But  if  Statistics  is  a scientific  instrument  of  investiga- 
tion it  must  be  used  scientifically.  It  must  first  of  all 
be  used  for  the  purposes  for  which  it  is  fitted.  We  do 
not  take  a sledge-hammer  to  regulate  a watch,  or  a pair 
of  tweezers  to  mend  an  iron  gate.  We  cannot  measure 
the  merits  of  a painter  by  the  square  yards  of  canvas  he 
covers,  or  the  morality  of  a nation  by  the  seating  capacity 
of  its  churches.  The  statistical  method  is  fitted  for  some 
purposes  ; — for  others  it  is  quite  unfitted.  This  is  often 
misunderstood.  We  continue  to  gather  statistics  which 
neither  are  nor  ever  can  be  of  use,  — simply  because  they 
are  statistics. 

Still  further,  with  the  collection  of  the  statistical  data 

1 Eeichesberg,  Statistik  und  Socialwissenschaft.  Engel,  Zeitschrift 
des  Preuss.  Bureaus,  1871,  p.  181.  Von  Mayr,  Statistik  und  Gesell- 
schaftslehre,  1895.  This  is  the  latest  and  most  complete  treatise  on 
statistics  that  we  possess. 

c 


17 


18 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


only  the  first  step  has  been  taken.  The  statisties  in  that 
condition  are  only  raw  material  showing  nothing.  They 
are  not  an  instrument  of  investigation  any  more  than  a 
kiln  of  bricks  is  a monument  of  architecture.  They 
need  to  be  arranged,  classified,  tabulated,  and  brought 
into  connection  with  other  statistics  by  the  statistician. 
Then  only  do  they  become  an  instrument  of  investiga- 
tion, just  as  a tool  is  nothing  more  than  a mass  of  wood 
or  metal,  except  in  the  hands  of  a skilled  workman.  It 
is  here  that  we  have  a science  of  statistics  in  the  sense 
of  the  ability  to  use  what  would  otherwise  he  useless. 
And  this  skill  extends  in  all  directions,  in  the  methods  of 
collecting  statistics,  in  arranging  and  tabulating  them,  in 
comparing  them  with  each  other,  and  especially  in  judg- 
ing of  the  validity  of  the  deductions  or  inferences  to  be 
drawn  from  them.  The  statistician  is  not  a mere  col- 
lector of  figures,  any  more  than  the  chemist  is  a mixer 
of  chemicals.  He  is  an  investigator  of  the  phenomena 
behind  the  figures. 

It  is  not  our  purpose  in  tliis  book  to  enter  into  the 
practical  details  of  statistical  method,  or  into  the  refine- 
ments of  statistical  theory.  There  are,  however,  some 
obvious  conditions  which  must  he  satisfied  in  order  that 
any  mass  of  statistics  shall  have  the  slightest  scientific 
value,  and  it  is  necessary  to  bear  these  in  mind  whenever 
using  statistics  either  in  general  or  in  practical  sociology. 
I have  called  these  things  the  Criteria  of  Statistics.  They 
are  most  of  them  so  obvious  that  they  are  self-evident 
when  stated,  but  many  of  them  are  flagrantly  disregarded 
in  practice.  Before  going  on  to  our  actual  statistics  it 
has  seemed  to  me  useful  to  summarize  these  criteria  once 
for  all  so  that  we  can  refer  to  them  later  on.  This  will 
be  done  as  briefly  as  possible. 

The  work  of  Statistics  falls  under  four  heads : (1) 
Gathering  the  material ; (2)  tabulating  and  arranging 
it ; (3)  comparing  one  set  of  statistics  with  another  in 


THE  CEITEEIA  OE  STATISTICS. 


19 


order  to  discover  relations  of  co-existence  tr  of  cause 
and  effect ; (4)  formiilating  statistical  or  sociological 
laws.  The  criteria  which  it  is  necessary  for  us  to  bear 
in  mind  attach  themselves  to  these  four  stages  and  may 
best  be  considered  in  this  order. 

I.  Collecting  the  Material.  This  is  a matter  not  only 
of  administrative  technique,  but  also  of  scientific  judg- 
ment. In  the  first  place,  what  statistics  shall  we  gather  ? 
Many  social  phenomena  are  capable  of  statistical  meas- 
urement, and  we  cannot  always  tell  in  advance  which  wHl 
prove  to  be  of  scientific  value.  But  it  is  obviously  im- 
possible to  collect  them  all,  and  so  we  are  obliged  to  make 
a choice.  There  are  many  actions  of  men  of  so  trivial 
or  indifferent  a nature  that  we  cannot  conceive  of  their 
being  of  sociological  importance,  e.^.,  as  to  whether  the 
inhabitants  of  a country  take  their  noonday  meal  at 
twelve  or  at  one  o’clock.  On  the  other  hand,  the  num- 
ber of  school-children  with  light  or  dark  hair,  blue  or 
brown  eyes,  may  be  of  importance  in  connection  with 
race.  We  must,  therefore,  choose  what  we  shall  observe, 
and  the  choice  is  not  always  easy.  As  a matter  of  fact, 
also,  the  choice  is  limited  largely  by  administrative  con- 
siderations, ^.c.,  as  to  what  the  government  officials  are 
authorized  or  willing  to  collect. 

Statistics  are  collected  principally  by  governmental 
agency.  The  task  is  too  great  and  too  unremunerative 
for  private  persons  as  a rule  to  undertake.  Private  indi- 
viduals also  do  not  possess  the  necessary  legal  power  to 
compel  an  answer  to  their  questions  or  to  punish  false 
and  misleading  answers.  But  the  primary  object  of 
many,  in  fact  most,  official  statistics,  is  to  furnish  guid- 
ance for  administrative  action  or  to  gain  practical  in- 
formation. Such  is  the  character  of  the  statistics  of 
imports  and  exports,  of  land  ownership,  agriculture  and 
industry,  shipping  and  railroads.  It  enters  into  the  sta- 
tistics of  population,  of  disease  and  death,  of  crime  and 


20 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


punishment.  This  has  led  to  the  apportioning  of  the 
work  of  gathering  statistics  among  numerous  depart- 
ments of  the  government,  each  one  securing  the  informa- 
tion that  is  useful  and  interesting  to  it.  One  great  evil 
attending  this  splitting-up  of  statistical  activity  is  that 
the  information  is  often  very  extensive,  but  is  not  com- 
parable. For  instance,  in  the  English  statistical  returns 
different  age-classifications  are  used  for  prisoners,  pau- 
pers, lunatics,  illiterates,  diseased,  married,  employed  in 
factories,  etc.,  so  that  we  cannot  trace  the  same  class  of 
persons  through  these  different  social  conditions.  This 
is  an  example  of  how  scientific  interest  is  sacrificed  to 
pure  administrative  routine.  Science  often  suffers  also 
from  the  conservatism  and  obstinacy  of  governmental 
officials,  who  are  first  of  all  departmental  chiefs  and  not 
statisticians.  A slight  change  here  and  there,  a little 
expansion  of  the  schedule,  would  often  increase  the  value 
of  the  statistics  many-fold  without  disturbing  their  ad- 
ministrative usefulness  or  requiring  additional  labour  in 
collecting.  If  there  is  lack  of  harmony  in  the  statistics 
of  different  departments  of  the  same  government,  one 
can  imagine  how  useless  it  is  to  expect  harmony  among 
the  statistical  departments  of  different  countries.  It  is 
this  fact  which  makes  international  statistical  compari- 
sons so  difficult. 

Again,  with  the  best  will  on  the  part  of  the  statisticians, 
the  organization  of  government  or  of  departments  is  some- 
times such  as  to  render  certain  branches  of  statistics 
practically  impossible.  The  vital  statistics  of  the  United 
States  are  imperfect  because  the  Federal  government  has 
no  registering  office  for  births,  deaths,  and  marriages,  and 
it  is  quite  hopeless  to  expect  that  all  the  different  states  will 
collect  such  statistics  with  uniformity  or  efficiency.  Prison 
statistics  as  well  as  educational  statistics  all  suffer  in  this 
country  from  the  variety  of  laws  and  regulations  prevailing 
in  the  different  states.  We  cannot  see  any  remedy  for  this 


THE  CRITERIA  OF  STATISTICS. 


21 


except  in  special  inquiries  conducted  over  limited  fields 
either  by  state  organs  or  by  special  offices  at  Washington, 
like  the  Department  of  Labour  or  the  Bureau  of  Education. 

Great  care  should  be  taken  in  any  statistical  inquiry, 
especially  a census,  in  determining  the  questions  to  be 
asked  and  their  form.  Questions  impossible  of  answer 
should,  of  course,  not  be  asked.  An  example  of  this  sort 
in  the  United  States  census  of  1890  was  tiie  question  of 
colour  — whether  black,  mulatto,  quadroon,  or  octoroon. 
It  was  impossible  for  the  individuals  themselves,  ignorant 
of  their  own  descent,  to  answer  such  a question  accurately, 
and  mere  shade  of  colour  is  an  insufficient  guide.  Number 
of  days  unemployed  during  the  year  could  not  be  easily 
answered  except  from  the  pay-rolls  of  the  employer. 
Itemized  family  expenditnre  cannot  be  furnished  except 
by  the  small  number  of  persons  who  are  accustomed  to 
keep  books  of  account.  Questions  that  demand  an  unusual 
effort  of  memory  are  seldom  accurately  answered  by  the 
mass  of  the  people. 

Questions  which  arouse  suspicion  or  hostility  should 
not  be  asked,  or  asked  only  with  great  caution.  Questions 
as  to  religious  belief  often  excite  opposition.  Generally 
questions  as  to  property  or  income  arouse  the  fear  of  new 
taxation  or  fiscal  imposition.  Questions  as  to  mental  or 
physical  infirmity  should  be  put  in  such  a way  as  not 
to  offend  susceptibilities.  Of  course,  questions  of  mere 
opinion  should  be  omitted,  and  questions  which  may  seem 
to  offer  advantage  or  disadvantage  if  answered  one  way 
or  the  other.  An  <!xample  of  the  latter  was  the  demand 
in  the  United  States  census  of  1890  whether  one  was 
soldier  or  sailor  in  the  war,  which  seemed  to  hold  out 
the  possibility  of  a pension.  Such,  in  a charity  inquiry, 
would  be  the  question  of  “whether  in  need  of  assistance 
or  not”  when  answered  by  the  individuals  themselves. 

A skilled  statistician  will  make  out  his  schedule  so  as  to 
give  by  combination  the  greatest  amount  of  information 


22 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


with  the  smallest  demand  on  the  intelligence  of  the 
answerer.  Often  a single  question,  like  that  of  “occupa- 
tion,” “nationality,”  or  “age,”  opens  up  a series  of 
combinations  which  were  otherwise  impossible.  It  is 
obvious  that  the  questions  must  be  worded  in  such  a way 
as  not  to  be  ambiguous,  to  be  answered  if  possible  by  a 
single  word,  to  be  of  such  a kind  that  the  enumerator  can 
detect  obvious  misstatements  by  the  connection  with  other 
questions.  All  this  belongs  to  the  teclmique  of  statistics, 
but  is  often  undervalued  and  not  understood.  The  success 
of  a statistical  inquiry  depends  largely  upon  the  skill  with 
which  the  original  schedules  are  arranged.  Of  course, 
intelligence,  honesty  and  zeal  on  the  part  of  the  enumerators 
are  equally  demanded. 

II.  Arranging  and  Tabulating  the  Material.  It  is  neces- 
sary to  put  the  material  into  such  shape  as  to  be  most  use- 
ful in  imparting  information.  This  is  the  ordinary  work 
of  tabulation,  as,  for  instance,  the  population  at  successive 
censuses  or  the  number  of  criminals  in  successive  years. 
Various  devices  are  employed  to  make  the  facts  more 
luminous.  For  instance,  we  can  calculate  the  percentage 
of  increase  of  the  population  from  census  to  census  in 
order  to  judge  whether  the  rate  of  increase  is  greater  or 
less.  Or  we  can  take  the  percentage  the  ui’ban  popidation 
bears  to  the  whole  from  decade  to  decade  ; or  the  percentage 
of  the  blacks  to  the  total  population.  Care  should  be 
taken  to  preserve  as  much  as  possible  the  same  standard,  — 
as,  for  instance,  the  whole  population,  — in  reckoning  the 
percentages  of  the  different  elements,  as  the  native  and 
foreign-born,  the  blacks  and  whites,  the  illiterate,  the 
criminal,  etc.  Sometimes  the  number  of  blacks  is  ex- 
pressed as  a percentage  of  the  whites,  the  number  of 
foreign-born  as  a percentage  of  the  native-born.  etc. 
But  when  we  come  to  consider  the  strength  of  the  blacks 
compared  with  that  of  the  foreign-born,  we  have  not  the 
same  standard. 


THE  CRITEEIA  OF  STATISTICS. 


23 


Vital  statistics  are  commonly  expressed  by  rates,  as  the 
birth  and  marriage-rate.  They  may  be  expressed  in  one 
of  two  ways.  Deaths  may  be  expressed  by  saying  one  out 
of  40  of  the  population  died  during  the  year,  or  25  per 
1000  died.  The  latter  is  always  preferable,  it  being  easier 
to  judge  of  the  fluctuation  from  year  to  year  by  saying 
25  and  24  per  1000,  than  by  saying  one  out  of  40  and  one 
out  of  42.  When  we  say  the  birth-rate  in  one  country  is 
one  in  29  of  the  population  and  in  a second  it  is  one  in  31, 
it  is  not  easy  to  measure  the  superiority  of  one  over  the 
other.  When  we  express  the  rates  as  34.5  and  33.2  per 
1000,  the  difference  is  obvious.  When  there  is  a whole 
list  of  rates  to  compare,  as  the  fluctuations  in  birth-rates 
for  a period  of  twenty  years,  the  advantage  of  the  latter 
method  is  still  greater. 

The  most  common  device  in  statistics  for  making  the 
figures  expressive,  next  to  the  per  cent  and  per  mille 
arrangement,  is  to  take  the  average.  The  average  is  the 
short  expression  for  the  general  truth  underlying  the  di- 
versity of  phenomena.  The  rate  of  suicide  may  vary 
from  year  to  year  in  England,  but  the  average  for  ten 
years  Avill  be,  say,  80  per  1,000,000  inhabitants.  One 
year  it  may  be  as  high  as  85  and  another  year  as  low  as 
77,  but  ordinarily  it  will  be  near  80.  Prices  fluctuate 
from  day  to  day  or  from  month  to  month,  but  the  average 
price  will  be  the  middle  point  about  which  the  market 
prices  fluctuate. 

The  average  is  of  inestimable  benefit  in  statistics. 
Without  it  we  should  be  helpless  before  the  enormous 
accumulation  of  figures,  which  we  could  neither  remember 
nor  understand.  It  is  the  average  which  takes  hold  of 
the  imagination  and  presents  itself  to  our  minds  as  the 
expression  of  the  real  condition  of  things.  It  is  the  aver- 
age which  is  sought  in  order  to  unburden  the  mind  of  the 
mass  of  details.  Hence  we  have  everywhere  averages,  — 
the  average  length  of  life,  average  price,  average  wages, 


24 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


average  wealth,  average  well-being,  and  even  the  aver- 
age man. 

It  is  necessary  to  use  the  average  with  care  for  it  is 
often  delusive.  In  the  first  place  only  those  things  should 
be  averaged  which  belong  to  the  same  class.  If  we  try  to 
get  the  average  length  of  life  of  healthy  males,  it  is  not 
permissible  to  include  unhealthy  males.  If  we  are  seeking 
the  average  wages  of  men,  it  is  not  permissible  to  include 
the  wages  of  women  and  children.  In  the  latter  case  we 
get  an  average,  but  it  represents  nothing.  It  is  too  low 
for  men’s  wages  ; it  is  too  high  for  the  wages  of  women 
and  children. 

Care  must  be  taken  not  to  allow  extreme  cases  to  have 
too  much  influence.  The  rate  of  interest  on  money  may 
in  some  flurry  of  the  stock-exchange  suddenly  rise  to  40 
or  50  per  cent  for  a few  transactions,  while  for  the  great 
mass  of  transactions  during  the  day  it  has  been  5 or  6 per 
cent.  To  say  that  the  average  rate  for  money  had  been 
22  or  28  per  cent  would  be  misleading,  the  great  mass  of 
transactions  having  been  at  5 or  6 per  cent.  A remedy 
for  this  is  found  by  taking  account  of  the  number  of  trans- 
actions at  each  rate  instead  of  merely  the  rates  themselves. 

Sometimes  it  is  permissible  to  drop  out  extreme  cases 
where  they  can  be  distinguished.  For  instance,  if  we  are 
calculating  the  ordinary  mortality  of  a community  by  tak- 
ing the  average  death-rate  for  a series  of  years,  and  find 
an  excessive  death-rate  for  a single  year  due  to  a particu- 
lar cause,  as  cholera  or  a war,  we  can  drop  out  that  year 
and  get  a truer  average. 

An  average  must  not  be  a mere  numerical  average,  for 
that  amounts  to  nothing.  It  must  be  a typical  average, 
expressive  of  about  what  the  real  condition  of  things  is. 
This  requires  great  care  and  discrimination  in  the  use  of 
the  figures  and  in  their  arrangement. 

III.  We  must  compare  the  statistics  of  one  social  phe- 
nomenon with  those  of  another  in  order  to  discover  if 


THE  CKITERIA  OF  STATISTICS. 


25 


there  be  any  relation  between  the  two.  These  relations 
may  display  themselves  either  in  space  or  in  time.  Suppose 
we  have  reason  to  suspect  that  city  life  increases  the 
death-rate.  We  arrange  on  one  side  the  death-rates  for 
the  cities  of  England,  and  on  the  other  the  rates  for  the 
rural  communities.  If  we  find  in  the  former  column  con- 
stantly higher  death-rates  than  in  the  latter,  we  conclude 
that  for  some  reason  or  other  deaths  are  more  frequent  in 
cities  than  in  the  country.  If  we  believe  that  altitude 
has  something  to  do  with  lung  diseases,  we  arrange  the 
deaths  from  such  diseases  in  mountainous  regions  with 
those  in  the  lowlands,  and  see  if  in  one  case  they  are  more 
numerous  than  in  the  other. 

Or  we  may  compare  differences  in  time.  If  we  find  the 
largest  number  of  suicides  everywhere  falling  in  early 
summer,  then  we  conclude  that  temperature  has  some- 
thing to  do  with  the  suicidal  mania.  Or  if  we  find  that 
in  times  of  high  price  of  food  and  dull  business,  crimes 
against  property  always  increase  in  number,  then  we  con- 
clude that  economic  condition  is  an  influence  on  crime. 

It  is  obvious  that  in  the  complexity  of  social  phenomena 
we  may  have  two  or  three  causes  bound  together  and  may 
attribute  to  one  cause  an  effect  due  to  another.  Crime  is 
more  frequent  among  the  foreign-born  population  of  the 
United  States  than  among  the  native-born.  But  if  we 
take  account  of  the  larger  number  of  adrdt  males  among 
the  foreign-born,  we  shall  suspect  that  the  greater  crim- 
inality is  due  as  much  to  the  sex  and  age  proportion 
as  to  the  nationality.  There  is  a larger  proportion  of 
the  blind,  and  deaf  and  dumb,  among  the  Catholics  of 
Ireland  than  among  the  Protestants,  but  one  must  remem- 
ber that  all  the  poorest  and  most  helpless  of  the  popula- 
tion are  included  among  the  Catholics. 

It  is  necessary,  therefore,  to  eliminate  as  far  as  possible 
the  causes  other  than  the  one  we  are  studying,  so  as  to 
trace  the  connection  between  that  one  cause  and  the  effect 


26 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


produced.  This  requires  great  care  and  a true  statistical 
insight,  for  often  unsuspected  causes  are  at  work. 

Finally,  can  we  measure  the  intensity  of  the  cause? 
How  much  is  bad  economic  condition  responsible  for 
the  increase  of  crime  ? This  is  simply  a question  of 
greater  refinement  of  method,  which  is  sometimes  possible, 
but  more  often  impossible.  Bad  economic  condition  in- 
creases crime,  but  is  very  seldom  of  such  importance  that 
a proportionate  variation  in  it  results  in  a proportionate 
variation  in  the  amount  of  crime.  Such  exact  measure- 
ments are  almost  always  impossible.  We  must  be  content 
if  we  can  show  that  the  influence  is  a constant  one. 

IV.  Even  when  we  discover  constant  regularities  or 
relations  of  cause  and  effect,  have  we  any  right  to  dub 
them  statistical  or  sociological  laws?  That  is  what  we 
are  inclined  to  call  them.  Some  are  merely  the  expres- 
sion of  a fact,  as  that  there  are  always  more  boys  than 
girls  born.  Others  are  statements  of  regularities  wliich 
remain  as  long  as  the  conditions  remain,  as  that  the  rate 
of  suicide  in  England  is  80  per  1,000,000  iuhabitants. 
Still  others  are  affirmations,  e.g.^  that  economic  condition 
is  a cause  of  crime.  About  these  so-called  laws  it  is  only 
necessary  to  remark  : — 

(1)  That  they  are  merely  empirical  laws  of  no  high 
degree  of  validity,  — simple  regularities  that  may  be  easily 
affected  in  a great  variety  of  ways.  Suicide  is  influenced 
not  only  by  economic  condition,  but  by  social  opinion, 
religious  belief,  external  hindrances,  etc.,  so  that  the  num- 
ber may  vary  from  year  to  year. 

(2)  In  order  to  formulate  a law  we  must  demand  a cer- 
tain regularity.  This  is  commonly  measured  by  the  law 
of  probability.  If  the  fluctuations  from  year  to  year  are 
not  greater  than  the  mean  error  in  a series  of  a like  num- 
ber of  events  happening  by  chance,  then  we  seem  to  have 
a regularity  showing  the  working  of  a constant  cause.  If 
they  are  greater,  then  we  must  try  to  discover  a par- 


THE  CRITEKIA  OF  STATISTICS. 


27 


tieular  cause  for  tlie  variation  and  eliminate  it.  Here 
we  have  a chance  for  careful  and  minute  inspection  of 
these  regularities  revealed  by  statistics. 

(3)  The  regularities  of  the  mass  have  no  compelling 
force  over  the  individual.  That  the  rate  of  suicide  in 
England  remains  constant  from  year  to  year  does  not  mean 
that  I am  in  any  more  danger  of  committing  suicide  than 
if  the  rate  fluctuated  capriciously.  That  500,000  people, 
that  is  one-third  of  the  inhabitants  of  New  York,  are  car- 
ried daily  on  the  elevated  railroads  does  not  mean  that  I 
am  obliged  to  ride  once  in  three  days.  I may  ride  every 
day  or  I may  never  use  the  road.  These  things  are  some- 
times forgotten  when  we  speak  of  the  inevitableness  of 
social  laws,  of  the  responsibility  of  society  for  the  crimes 
committed  in  its  bosom,  of  the  budget  that  must  be  paid, 
the  budget  of  the  galleys,  the  scafl^old,  and  the  prison. 

(4)  This  last  affirmation  means  that  statistics  do  not 
destroy  the  doctrine  of  the  freedom  of  the  human  will. 
Whatever  may  be  the  validity  or  non-validity  of  that  no- 
tion, it  cannot  be  overthrown  by  statistics.  With  all  the 
regularities  there  are  numerous  irregularities  which  leave 
room  for  the  freedom  of  the  individual.  And  it  is  scarcely 
possible  that  statistics  will  ever  be  so  perfect  an  instru- 
ment of  investigation  as  to  destroy  these  variations.  Free 
will  may  not  really  exist,  but  it  is  not  yet  disproven. 

(5)  But,  it  is  commonly  said,  if  you  admit  freedom  of 
the  will,  what  becomes  of  your  statistical  regularities  and 
your  sociological  laws  ? This  question  has  already  been 
answered.  By  statistics  we  seek  to  show  that  social 
actions  are  controlled  often  and  demonstrably  by  certain 
great  and  general  influences.  This  is  mere  connection  of 
cause  and  elfect,  but  the  connection  is  so  close  that  if  the 
cause  remain  the  same  the  effect  also  remains  the  same. 
This  is  a great  discovery  to  make  and  is  the  first  step 
towards  understanding  social  phenomena  and  formulating 
a theory  of  the  organization  of  society.  We  do  not  affirm 


28 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


that  the  causes  do  not  change.  In  fact  directly  the  con- 
trary is  affirmed,  viz.,  that  if  the  causes  change,  the 
effects  will  change.  And  it  is  just  as  important  to  prove 
this  as  the  former.  The  irregularities  of  statistics  point- 
ing to  unlike  causes  are  just  as  important  as  the  regu- 
larities pointing  to  like  causes. 


CHAPTER  III. 


METHOD  OF  STUDY. 

The  statistical  method  offers  us  an  enormous  amount 
of  material  of  all  degrees  of  completeness  and  trustworthi- 
ness. If  we  are  not  to  be  entirely  confused  and  over- 
whelmed by  the  mere  mass  of  data  and  by  the  conflicting 
conclusions  to  which  they  seem  to  lend  support,  it  is 
necessary  that  we  strive  for  and  attain  absolute  clearness 
in  respect  to  the  ends  to  be  sought  and  the  methods  of 
seeking  them.  For  this  purpose  we  shall  adopt  a certain 
rigidity  of  arrangement  and  of  argument  which  will  be 
carried  out  in  each  chapter,  although  it  may  sometimes 
appear  superfluous  and  even  pedantic.  This  rigidity  does 
not  lie  in  the  nature  of  the  material  itself,  for  social 
phenomena  are  constantly  intermingling  and  overlapping 
and  can  be  separated  only  in  thought ; but  it  lies  in  the 
Ihnitations  of  the  human  mind,  which  ordinarily  in  scien- 
tific investigation  is  obliged  to  contemplate  separately 
things  which  in  life  never  exist  separately. 

In  order  to  preserve  a certain  degree  of  clearness,  each 
of  the  successive  chapters  will  be  arranged  on  the  follow- 
ing plan  : (1)  Sociological  purpose  of  the  investigation ; 
(2)  Statistical  data  now  accessible;  (3)  Scientific  tests 
of  the  trustworthiness  of  these  data;  and  (4)  Reflective 
analysis  of  the  results  obtained.  The  object  of  this 
arrangement  (and  its  value)  will  best  appear  as  the  sub- 
ject is  developed,  but  some  preliminary  explanation  of 
what  is  meant  under  each  head  may  find  a place  here. 

(1)  Sociological  Purpose.  In  order  to  deal  intelli- 

29 


30 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


gently  with  a particular  group  of  statistics,  it  is  absolutely 
necessary  to  have  in  mind  the  purpose  for  which  we  wish 
to  use  them.  It  is  impossible  to  work  in  any  science 
without  some  “working  hypothesis.”  We  must  assume 
that  it  is  possible  to  prove  that  which  we  wish  to  prove, 
and  that  the  data  of  which  we  have  command  will  help 
us  on  to  that  proof. 

The  general  sociological  purpose  of  any  group  of  statis- 
tics is  to  throw  light  on  the  organization  of  society.  That 
is  the  general  purpose.  More  particular  purposes  will 
vary  according  to  the  character  of  the  statistics,  but  the 
general  line  of  inquiry  will  be  that  indicated  in  Chapter  I. 
We  inquire  first  what  bearing  the  particular  statistics 
have  on  the  classification  of  population.  This  bearing  is 
sometimes  direct,  as  in  the  statistics  of  race,  or  of  sex,  age, 
and  conjugal  condition.  It  is  sometimes  indirect,  as  in 
those  of  migration,  births,  deaths,  and  marriages. 

The  second  sociological  purpose  is  to  arrange  the  par- 
ticular statistics  in  such  a way  as  to  reveal  any  relation 
between  population  and  land  (physical  environment). 
This  relation  is  sometimes  direct,  as  between  births  and 
the  season  of  the  year  ; sometimes  it  is  indirect,  as  between 
births  and  density  of  population  due  to  the  physical 
character  of  the  land. 

A precisely  similar  purpose  must  be  kept  constantly  in 
view  in  regard  to  the  social  environment,  that  is,  the  effect 
of  other  phenomena  of  population  upon  the  particular 
phenomenon  we  have  in  hand,  e.g.,  the  infiuence  of  relig- 
ious confession  on  illegitimate  births,  of  economic  condi- 
tion upon  marriage,  of  sex  upon  suicide.  What  sort  of 
co-existences  can  we  reasonably  expect  to  establish  here  ? 
We  must  have  some  conception  of  what  we  expect  to  find 
before  we  shall  ever  find  anything. 

Sociological  purpose  must  keep  our  minds  open  to 
changes  in  the  different  groups  of  phenomena  and  their 
relation  to  each  other.  Fluctuations  in  birth-rates  must 


METHOD  OE  STUDY. 


31 


obviously  find  a possible  explanation  in  a variety  of  ways, 
as  in  changes  in  the  marriage-rate,  in  wars  and  times  of 
adversity  or  prosperity,  or  in  statutory  enactments,  etc. 
A definite  purpose  must  exist  in  our  minds  to  test  all 
such  sequences  and  to  try  to  establish  relations  of  cause 
and  effect.  The  object  of  Statistics  is  often  not  so  much 
to  establish  new  truths  as  to  confirm  truths  already  guessed 
at. 

Finally,  our  sociological  purpose  in  many  groups  of 
statistics  must  be  to  gain  information  for  the  purpose  of 
guiding  social  action  — what  we  have  called  practical 
sociology.  What  effect  does  the  infliction  of  certain 
penalties  have  upon  the  repetition  of  crime  ? From  what 
classes  in  the  community  are  juvenile  offenders  recruited  ? 
Is  pauperism  due  to  economic  misfortune,  lack  of  thrift, 
lack  of  intelligence,  habits  of  dissipation,  or  to  general 
social  causes  over  which  the  individual  has  no  control? 
The  statistician  who  should  neglect  such  practical  ques- 
tions while  seeking  to  establish  the  general  outlines  of 
social  organization,  would  fail  to  comprehend  one  very 
important  sociological  purpose  of  his  investigation. 

(2)  Statistical  Data.  The  main  purpose  of  each  chapter 
will  be  to  present  the  particular  statistics  in  accordance 
with  the  sociological  purpose  laid  down  in  the  intro- 
ductory part.  The  data  should  be  developed  in  that 
order,  viz.,  the  general  data  with  reference  to  the  whole 
population,  in  connection  with  the  physical  environment, 
in  connection  with  the  social  environment,  with  refer- 
ence to  the  changing  relations  of  a dynamic  society, 
and  with  reference  to  specific  problems.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary to  give  all  the  statistics.  Typical  ones  should  be 
selected  which  will  prove  the  point  in  hand,  but  enough 
should  be  furnished  to  show  that  the  rule  is  general  and 
not  exceptional.  Care  must  be  taken  in  comparing  phe- 
nomena that  the  comparison  is  a fair  one,  e.^.,  in  comparing 
the  number  of  paupers  and  defective  persons  among  the 


32 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


Catholics  and  Protestants  of  Ireland,  that  the  two  bodies 
represent  the  same  social  and  economic  condition ; or  in 
comparing  the  numbers  of  persons  convicted  of  larceny  in 
England  with  those  in  Italy,  that  larceny  covers  the  same 
range  of  offences  in  the  two  countries.  The  number  of 
statistical  data  at  command  is  enormous.  It  is  not  easy 
to  select  those  that  are  homogeneous  and  suited  for  the 
purpose.  Fittingness  and  suggestiveness  are  more  impor- 
tant for  us  than  mere  accumulation  of  facts.  So,  too,  in 
making  our  comparisons  it  is  well  to  fix  our  attention 
upon  two  and  only  two  phenomena  at  the  same  time,  e.g.^ 
combine  criminality  at  first  with  age  classes  alone,  and 
afterwards  with  sex  and  conjugal  condition.  Our  rule 
should  be  to  present  the  simple  first,  and  proceed  from  the 
simple  to  the  complex.  Ordinarily,  however,  we  shall 
find  it  necessary  to  eliminate  as  many  of  the  influences 
as  possible  in  order  to  study  the  effect  of  one. 

(3)  Scientific  Tests.  Having  chosen  our  material  with 
respect  to  the  sociological  purpose  in  view,  the  next  ques- 
tion is  whether  it  is  adequate.  This  is  a very  important 
matter,  the  neglect  of  which  leads  to  many  impotent 
conclusions  and  much  wasted  labour.  Our  general  scien- 
tific method  is  observation,  analysis,  induction,  and  gen- 
eralization. But  all  observation  is  not  statistical,  and 
after  observing  a particular  group  of  phenomena,  the 
first  question  to  be  asked  is  whether  the  statistical 
method  is  at  all  applicable,  and  if  so,  to  what  extent. 
Degree  of  intelligence  would  be  a valuable  item  in  the 
study  of  crime,  but  have  we  any  statistical  method  of 
measuring  intelligence  ? Density  of  population  probably 
has  an  influence  on  many  social  phenomena,  but  it  is  com- 
monly so  associated  with  other  things,  such  as  city  life, 
industrial  condition,  economic  well-being,  that  statistical 
analysis  fails  to  isolate  it.  Always  and  everywhere  with 
statistical  analysis  comes  the  question  whether  our  classi- 
fication is  legitimate  and  scientific.  What  is  the  distin- 


METHOD  OF  STUDY. 


33 


guishing  mark  of  race?  With  classification  comes  the 
question  of  nomenclature.  Do  names  mean  the  same 
thing  in  different  countries  or  at  different  periods  of 
history  ? When  we  make  comparisons,  have  we  elimi- 
nated all  the  disturbing  elements?  For  instance,  in 
comparing  death-rates  of  city  and  country,  do  we  take 
account  of  differences  in  sex  and  age  ? Finally,  in  pro- 
ceeding from  analysis  to  induction  and  generalization, 
it  is  necessary  to  consider  the  universality  of  the  facts 
upon  which  our  reasoning  is  based. 

Besides  these  general  scientific  tests  there  are  the 
particular  questions  of  technique  mentioned  in  the  pre- 
ceding chapter.  In  some  cases  there  are  difficulties  in 
getting  the  material,  as  in  the  birth,  marriage,  and  death 
statistics  of  the  United  States.  We  can  see  that  som.e 
inquiries  are  very  difficult  to  answer  with  certainty,  e.g., 
the  exact  motive  leading  to  suicide.  Again,  we  suspect 
that  some  questions  will  not  be  answered  truthfully,  as 
when  parents  are  asked  the  age  of  their  children  employed 
in  factories.  In  other  cases  we  know  that  the  adminis- 
trative processes  are  so  inadequate  that  the  retm-ns  are  not 
trustworthy.  Such  is  said  to  he  the  case  in  some  South 
American  censuses  and  is  true  of  many  local  statistics. 

Because  the  material  is  imperfect  or  incomplete  it  does 
not  always  follow  that  it  is  useless.  It  may  give  us  in- 
dications of  relations  or  tendencies  without  our  being  able 
to  define  them  exactly.  It  may  confirm  to  a certain 
degree  what  we  have  already  suspected  from  observation. 
It  may  be  used  to  frame  hypotheses  which  may  then  be 
tested  in  other  ways. 

Questions  of  technique  connect  themselves  also  with 
tabulating  and  presenting  the  statistics.  In  many  cases 
we  have  to  determine  the  most  practicable  classification, 
as,  for  instance,  in  ages  ; shall  we  take  each  separate  age 
by  itself  or  shall  we  group  them,  and  if  the  latter,  shall  we 
group  them  by  quinquennial  or  decennial  periods  or  other- 


34 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


wise  ? One  great  difficulty  in  all  age  classifications  is  the 
concentration  about  ages  ending  with  zero  or  the  figure 
five.  We  should  adopt  a classification  that  will  avoid  the 
evil  effects  of  this  as  far  as  possible. 

In  tabulating  population  in  respect  to  density,  it  is  nec- 
essary to  determine  what  scale  of  gradations  we  shall  use ; 
in  separating  urban  and  rural  population,  what  limit  we 
shall  adopt  as  minimum  size  for  a city ; m studying  rela- 
tion of  population  to  land,  whether  we  shall  take  lines  of 
equal  latitude,  equal  altitude,  or  equal  temperature. 

Still  further,  in  making  comparison  between  different 
countries,  or  in  studying  the  changes  in  time  in  the  same 
country,  it  is  necessary  to  adopt  some  sort  of  rate.  Births, 
for  instance,  vary  from  year  to  year  because  of  increasing 
population.  It  is  obviously  better  to  take  a per  capita 
relation  than  the  absolute  numbers.  It  is  the  same  way 
with  marriages,  deaths,  sickness,  suicide,  crime,  and  almost 
all  social  statistics.  In  order  to  make  them  comparable  it 
is  necessary  to  turn  them  into  rates.  The  important  ques- 
tion is,  what  standard  shall  we  adopt.  The  most  simple  is 
that  of  the  Avhole  population.  It  has  the  added  advantage 
that  then  all  our  different  phenomena  are  comparable 
among  themselves.  It  has  the  disadvantage  that  the 
whole  population  is  not  affected  by  the  particular  phe- 
nomenon. Marriage  is  only  entered  into  by  adults  who 
are  not  already  living  in  the  married  state ; hence  the 
number  of  unmarried  persons  above  the  age,  say,  of  fifteen, 
is  the  true  standard  with  which  to  compare  the  marriages 
in  any  country  or  at  any  one  time.  Legitimate  births  are 
due  to  the  married  -women  of  child-bearing  age,  illegiti- 
mate to  the  unmarried  of  child-bearing  age,  and  neither 
has  reference  to  children  or  old  persons.  It  is  alwaj’s  an 
important  question,  now,  what  standard  we  shall  employ 
for  each  particidar  group  of  statistics ; or  if  we  use  the 
general  standard,  the  influence  which  difference  in  the  sex 
and  age  proportions  may  have. 


METHOD  OF  STUDY. 


35 


The  presentation  of  the  figures  involves  the  question  of 
the  average.  We  must  have  some  short  expression  for  the 
multiplicity  of  facts,  and  the  average  is  useful  for  that 
purpose,  as  already  explained  in  the  last  chapter.  In  our 
“ scientific  tests  ” we  shall  constantly  be  obliged  to  decide 
whether  our  averages  are  “ typical,”  that  is,  corresponding 
to  something  in  real  life,  or  are  empty  mathematical  ones. 

(4)  Reflective  Analysis.  Having  thus  tested  the  sta- 
tistical data  of  each  particular  kind  collected  together  for 
the  sociological  purpose  defined  in  the  beginning,  it  will 
be  necessary  at  the  end  of  each  chapter  to  determine  how 
far  that  purpose  has  been  attained.  This  will  be  done 
simply  by  reflective  analysis  of  the  results  for  the  pur- 
pose of  determining  whether  the  classification  is  adequate, 
whether  there  is  any  connection  between  the  particular 
phenomenon  and  the  physical  environment,  or  with  other 
phenomena  showing  relations  of  co-existence  or  of  sequence. 
Finally,  we  must  determine  whether  we  can  formulate  any 
sociological  laws,  what  effect  such  laws  have  on  the  doc- 
trine of  the  freedom  of  the  will,  and  whether  our  results 
have  any  practical  sociological  consequences. 


Book  I. 


BEMOaRAPHIO. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

SEX,  AGE,  AND  CONJUGAL  CONDITION. 

Sociological  Purpose. 

Population  falls  into  natural  groups  according  to  two 
characteristics  present  everywhere,  viz.,  sex  and  age. 
Both  are  natural  in  the  sense  of  depending  for  their  classi- 
fication upon  nature  and  the  natural  divisions  of  time. 
Both  are  of  very  considerable  sociological  importance, 
inasmuch  as  the  relative  size  of  the  groups  affects  the 
social  and  political  constitution  of  each  communit}'.  The 
relative  number  of  men  and  women  has  some  economic 
influence,  inasmuch  as  the  man  is  stronger  and  better  able 
to  bear  the  work  of  production  than  the  woman.  An 
excess  of  males  or  of  females  affects  the  marriage  relation, 
the  increase  of  population  and  the  mortality  of  the  com- 
munity. Still  further,  the  characteristic  of  sex  either  in 
itself  or  as  a result  of  historical  evolution  seems  to  influ- 
ence social  phenomena,  such  as  mortality,  disposition  to 
disease,  participation  in  ^dce  and  crime,  in  particular  ways 
which  are  explicable  only  by  reference  to  sex.  It  is  the 
purpose  of  Statistics  to  disclose  these  relations.  It  is  a 
question  of  sociology  whether  the  cause  is  physiological 

36 


SEX,  AGE,  AND  CONJUGAL  CONDITION. 


37 


or  due  simply  to  social  influences  which  have  centred 
about  the  distinction  of  sex. 

Classification  by  age  has  important  social,  economic 
and  political  influences.  A population  may  have  an 
excessive  number  of  children  and  old  people,  thus  increas- 
ing the  burden  on  the  productive  class.  It  may  have  a 
deficiency  of  children,  thus  leading  to  depopulation  or  at 
least  a stationary  population.  Emigration  may  weaken 
the  economic  power  of  a nation  by  drawing  away  the  full- 
grown  persons  ; or  immigration  add  to  it  by  increasing 
the  relative  number  of  adults.  The  military  strength  of 
a country  is  measured  by  the  number  of  men  able  to  bear 
arms.  The  voting  strength  is  measured  by  the  number  of 
males  above  a certain  age.  The  growth  of  population  is 
conditioned  by  the  number  of  women  of  child-bearing 
age.  The  number  of  criminals  depends  partly  on  the 
number  of  adult  men.  Disease,  mortality,  and  other  phe- 
nomena vary  in  intensity  because  of  the  distribution  of 
the  age  classes,  as,  for  instance,  many  of  the  facts  peculiar  to 
large  cities  are  explicable  by  the  age-constitution  of  urban 
populations.  Thus  the  mortality  rate  in  cities  cannot  be 
directly  compared  with  that  of  the  country,  but  account 
must  be  taken  of  the  distribution  of  the  population  by  age. 

It  follows  from  this  that  in  many  cases  comparison  of 
the  same  fact  in  two  classes  of  the  population  can  only  be 
made  accurately  when  we  take  into  account  the  age- 
constitution  of  each.  Thus,  in  asserting  that  crime, 
pauperism,  and  insanity  are  more  frequent  among  the 
foreign-born  in  the  United  States  than  among  the  natives, 
we  must  remember  that  all  these  are  phenomena  of  adult 
life  and  that  the  proportion  of  adults  is  greater  among 
the  foreign-born  than  among  the  natives.  The  contrary 
is  true  in  respect  to  homeless  children,  idiots,  and  the 
feeble-minded.  The  rate  of  mortality  among  the  blacks 
at  the  South  is  greater  than  among  the  whites  because  of 
the  large  number  of  children. 


38 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


While  the  total  number  of  the  population  ordinarily 
furnishes  us  the  basis  of  comparison  for  such  social  phe- 
nomena as  the  rate  of  increase,  the  birth-rate  and  the  death- 
rate,  in  some  cases  a particular  section  of  the  population 
gives  us  a truer  standard.  The  number  of  births  is  some- 
times compared  with  the  number  of  women  of  child-bearing 
age  ; the  number  of  marriages  with  the  number  of  unmar- 
ried persons  of  marriageable  age  ; the  criminals  with  the 
nmnber  of  adults  ; the  illiterates  with  the  number  of 
persons  10  or  12  years  of  age  and  over  ; the  number 
of  permanent  paupers  with  the  number  of  persons  60  or 
65  years  of  age  and  over  ; the  celibates  with  the  number 
of  persons  40  years  of  age  and  over  ; the  adult  mortality 
with  the  number  of  adults. 

The  classification  by  age  and  groups  of  ages  is  there- 
fore very  important  in  sociological  investigation.  Almost 
everywhere  it  gives  us  greater  precision.  It  enables  us 
to  eliminate  one  of  the  permanent  causes,  so  to  speak,  and 
leaves  us  free  to  search  for  the  particular  cause.  When 
we  are  examining  the  prevalence  of  insanity  among  the 
foreign-born  and  natives,  the  elimination  of  children 
among  whom  insanity  is  rare  removes  one  cause  of  vari- 
ation and  concentrates  our  attention  on  the  influence  of 
race.  When  we  compare  the  marriage-rate  of  city  and 
country,  the  number  of  marriageable  persons  is  the  stand- 
ard we  are  seeking,  — not  the  number  of  children. 

The  distribution  of  the  population  according  to  conjugal 
condition  (single,  married,  widowed  and  divorced)  does 
not  depend  upon  natural  causes,  like  the  distribution  by 
sex  and  age,  but  upon  the  social  institution  of  marriage. 
Nevertheless,  marriage  is  so  well  established  in  ci-\Tlized 
communities,  its  consummation  is  so  dependent  on  age, 
and  its  dissolution  upon  death,  that  the  classification  of 
the  population  according  to  conjugal  condition  is  almost 
as  natural  and  as  stable  as  that  by  sex  and  age. 

Conjugal  condition  is  a very  important  fact  in  social 


SEX,  AGE,  AND  CONJUGAL  CONDITION. 


39 


organization.  The  relative  number  of  the  single  and 
married  affects  the  growth  of  population,  the  number  of 
births,  the  constitution  of  the  family,  and  social  morality. 
Widowhood  has  important  economic  and  social  effects. 
— as  has  also  divorce.  Still  further,  the  married  and 
widowed  states  seem  to  have  peculiar  influence  on  other 
social  phenomena,  such  as  death,  disease,  insanity,  suicide, 
vice  and  crime.  The  combination  of  conjugal  condition 
and  age  reveals  many  interesting  relations. 

The  sociological  purpose  of  presenting  statistics  of  sex, 
age,  and  conjugal  condition  is  to  establish  firmly  this 
fundamental  classification  of  population  which  is  abso- 
lutely essential  to  any  understanding  of  social  organiza- 
tion or  the  facts  of  social  life.  We  must  inquire  how 
far  the  classification  itself  depends  upon  natural  and 
social  influences,  e.g.^  climate  and  celibacy,  social  customs 
and  second  marriages.  But  our  more  important  task  is 
to  establish  the  distribution  of  population  itself  accord- 
ing to  these  categories  as  a foundation  for  all  our  later 
statistics  of  births,  deaths,  marriages,  suicide,  vice,  and 
crime.  Such  foundation  is  absolutely  necessary  in  order 
to  make  these  statistics  comparable  and  thus  to  establish 
relations  either  of  co-existence  or  of  sequence,  f.e.,  of  cause 
and  effect. 

At  the  same  time  it  is  the  sociological  purpose  of  this 
chapter  to  consider  whether  the  relations  of  sex,  age, 
and  conjugal  condition  disclose  any  regularities  which 
may  be  termed  sociological  laws.  Practical  questions 
must  also  be  kept  in  view,  such  as  the  effect  of  an  abnor- 
mal number  of  unmarried  women  on  the  policy  of  fac- 
tory laws,  the  effect  of  celibacy  occasioned  by  economic 
condition  on  social  morality  and  the  like. 

Statistical  Data. 

Sex.  The  relative  number  of  males  and  females  varies 
widely  in  different  parts  of  the  world  and  in  different 


40 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


countries.  General  estimates  lead  us  to  suppose  that 
to  1000  males  there  are  in  Australasia  only  about  852 
females,  in  Asia  958,  in  Africa  968,  in  America  973.  It 
must  be  confessed,  however,  that  our  knowledge  of  these 
populations  rests  on  estimates  or  very  imperfect  enu- 
merations, so  that  the  figures  are  imcertain.  In  Europe, 
on  the  other  hand,  we  have  an  excess  of  females,  1024 
females  to  1000  males,  and  this  is  typical  of  old  countries. 
In  the  United  States,  typical  of  a new  country,  the  excess 
of  males  is  undoubted,  — 952  females  to  1000  males  in 
1890. 

In  both  Europe  and  the  United  States  we  have  wide 
variations,  as  is  shown  by  the  following  figures,  indicating 
the  number  of  females  to  1000  males  in  different  coun- 
tries of  Europe  and  different  sections  of  the  United 
States  : 


Europe 1024  Europe  — Continued. 

Norway 1091  Belgium 1005 

Scotland 1072  Italy 989 

Sweden 1065  Servia 947 

England  and  Wales  . . 1064  Greece 929 

Switzerland 1057 

Denmark 1051 

Austria 1044  United  States  ....  952 

Germany 1039  North  Atlantic  States . . 1005 

Ireland 1029  South  Atlantic  States . . 1004 

Holland 1024  North  Central  States  . . 928 

Hungary 1015  South  Central  States  . . 961 

France 1014  Western  States  ....  698 


It  is  a curious  circumstance  that  the  greatest  excess 
of  females  is  found  in  the  northern  countries  of  Europe, 
thence  diminishing  towards  the  South  until  in  the  coun- 
tries on  the  Mediterranean  there  is  an  excess  of  males. 
Ireland  forms  a marked  exception  to  the  rule.  It  might 
seem  at  first  sight  that  climate  or  geographical  position 
had  something  to  do  with  this  distribution  of  females 
among  the  countries  of  Europe.  But  we  cannot  believe 


SEX,  AGE,  AND  CONJUGAL  CONDITION. 


41 


that  there  is  any  direct  influence  of  climate  on  the  pro- 
portion of  the  sexes.  If  there  be  any  influence  it  must 
come  about  indirectly  through  births,  deaths,  or  migration 
affecting  the  two  sexes  unequally. 

In  the  whole  of  Europe  there  are  more  males  born  from 
year  to  year  than  females.  I hat  would  naturally  lead  to 
an  excess  of  males.  But  in  most  countries  there  is  also  a 
greater  mortality  among  men  than  women,  and  suiflciently 
greater  to  wipe  out  the  excess  of  male  births.  If  in  any 
country,  therefore,  we  started  out  with  an  equal  number  of 
males  and  females,  at  the  end  of  the  year  there  would  be 
an  excess  of  females.  In  England,  for  instance,  during  the 
decennium  1881-90  there  were  1037  males  born  to  every 
1000  females  ; but  there  were,  out  of  equal  numbers  living, 
1123  male  deaths  to  1000  female.  The  greater  mortality 
among  males  more  than  effaced  the  superiority  of  male 
births.  This  tendency  going  on  year  after  year  would 
eventually  accumulate  in  the  population  a greater  num- 
ber of  females.  There  would  be  a limit  to  the  excess, 
however,  when  females  became  so  numerous  that  even 
with  a lower  death-rate  the  number  of  deaths  among  them 
would  counterbalance  the  excess  of  male  births. 

The  greater  mortality  among  males  is  commonly  ascribed 
to  the  dangers  of  their  occupations,  as  soldiers,  sailors, 
miners,  and  factory  and  railway  hands.  Men  are  also 
more  addicted  to  vice,  crime,  and  excesses  of  various 
kinds  which  shorten  life. 

When  we  consider  that  the  different  countries  of  Europe 
differ  both  in  the  relative  number  of  males  to  females 
born,  and  especially  in  the  dangers  to  male  life  owing  to 
differences  in  occupation,  we  can  readily  understand  that 
the  proportions  of  males  to  females  might  vary  greatly 
even  from  these  natural  causes. 

It  is  not,  however,  always  true  that  mortality  among 
males  is  sufficiently  great  to  overcome  the  excess  of  male 
births.  In  Italy,  from  1865  to  1880,  the  excess  of  births 


42 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


over  deaths  among  males  was  1,567,091,  while  among 
females  it  was  only  1,417,955.  Italy  has  in  its  population 
an  excess  of  males.  ^ 

Among  uncivilized  peoples  there  seems  to  be  usually  an 
excess  of  males,  although  our  data  are  not  very  certain.  It 
has  commonly  been  supposed  that  among  savages  the  con- 
stant wars  tend  to  decimate  the  men,  while  the  women 
are  accumulated  as  slaves  and  servants.  But  whenever 
peace  is  established  it  is  probable  that  the  hardships  of  life 
and  burden  of  labour  fall  on  the  women  even  more  than  on 
the  men,  while  the  female  life  is  less  valued  than  the  male. 
It  is  only  upon  some  such  theory  that  we  can  explain  the 
excess  of  males  in  Asia  and  Africa. 

In  Europe  and  America  we  have  a second  cause  power- 
fully affecting  the  relative  proportion  of  the  sexes  in  any 
particular  country,  namely,  migration. 

Emigration  is  a direct  cause  of  excess  of  females  by 
carrying  off  more  men  than  women  ; 60  per  cent  of  the 
immigrants  to  the  United  States  from  Europe  are  males. 
Emigration  is  stronger  from  Great  Britain,  Germany,  and 
Scandinavia  than  from  France,  Italy,  or  Greece  ; this 
partly  accounts  for  the  excess  of  females  in  Northern 
Europe.  The  relative  number  of  males  and  females  among 
the  emigrants  is  not  the  same  for  different  countries.  Of 
the  immigrants  to  the  United  States  from  England,  1880- 
90,  61.3  per  cent,  from  Scotland  61.6  per  cent,  and  from 
Ireland  only  51.0  per  cent,  were  males.  These  figures 
explain  the  smaller  excess  of  females  in  Ireland  than  in 
the  two  other  divisions  of  the  United  Kingdom.  Fewer 
females  are  left  behind.  Of  all  the  emigrants  from  Ireland, 
from  1851  to  1892,  only  53  per  cent  were  males.  In  1892 
the  numbers  were  almost  equal,  25,495  males  and  25,372 
females,  and  in  some  years  there  has  been  an  excess  of 
females.  The  eastern  provinces  of  Prussia  show  a much 

^Biiclier,  Ueber  die  Vertheilung  der  beiden  Geschlechter  auf  der  Erde. 
Allgemeines  Statistiscbes  Arcbiv,  Vol.  II.,  p.  392. 


SEX,  AGE,  AND  CONJUGAL  CONDITION. 


43 


greater  excess  of  females  than  the  western,  due  probably 
to  the  greater  emigration. 

In  a new  country  there  is  generally  a preponderance  of 
males  owing  to  immigration.  This  is  plainly  the  case  in 
the  United  States  as  a whole.  The  states  of  the  North 
and  South  Atlantic  divisions  show,  however,  an  excess  of 
females,  as  Massaehusetts,  1058,  and  Rhode  Island,  1056, 
females  to  1000  males.  This  is  due  to  the  emigration  of  in- 
habitants of  those  states  to  the  West,  and  the  immigration 
of  females  into  the  factories.  The  excess  of  females  has 
diminished  since  1880,  showing  probably  an  increasing- 
immigration  of  men.  In  the  South  Atlantic  states,  like 
the  countries  of  Europe,  the  excess  of  females  is  due  to 
natural  causes,  e.g.^  North  Carolina  with  1024,  and  South 
Carolina  1011,  females  to  1000  males.  Some  of  the  South- 
ern states  are  influenced  by  immigration,  as  Florida  with 
only  938,  and  Texas  906,  females  to  1000  males.  The 
W estern  states  are  typical  of  newly  settled  communities, 
as  Montana  with  only  503  females  to  1000  males.  Even 
Utah  shows  only  882  females  to  1000  males,  notwithstand- 
ing the  experience  with  Mormonism. 

In  a new  country  the  changes  from  decade  to  decade  are 
often  very  marked.  In  the  United  States  the  relative 
number  of  females  seems  to  be  diminishing,  978  in  1870, 
965  in  1880,  and  only  952  in  1890.  This  must  be  due  to 
the  large  immigration  of  the  past  two  decades.  The  re- 
sult of  this  has  been  to  decrease  the  excess  of  females  in 
those  states  of  the  East  and  the  South  where  there  was  an 
excess,  and  in  some  cases  to  turn  it  into  an  excess  of  males, 
as,  for  instance,  in  Maine,  Pennsylvania,  Tennessee,  Ala- 
bama, and  Louisiana.  In  the  extreme  Western  states  the 
number  of  females  has  increased  owing  to  the  settlement 
of  the  country. 

Owing  to  mortality  and  emigration  the  excess  of  females 
increases  with  advancing  age.  In  Germany,  up  to  the  age 
of  10,  there  are  more  boys  than  girls,  but  from  that  point 


44 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


on  there  is  a regular  progression  in  the  excess  of  females. 
The  progression  is  apt  to  be  interrupted  or  at  least  re- 
tarded during  the  period  10  to  15,  owing  to  the  increased 
mortality  among  girls  at  that  age.  In  Massachusetts 
there  is  an  unusual  excess  of  females  of  the  age  of  20  to  30, 
due  to  the  immigration  of  girls  as  domestic  servants  and 
factory  hands. 

The  proportion  of  males  to  females  does  not  remain  the 
same  from  year  to  year,  but  varies  with  social  causes  such 
as  those  mentioned  above.  In  France  the  movement  has 
been  almost  constantly  in  the  direction  of  greater  equality 
in  the  relative  number  of  males  and  females.  In  1821 
there  were  1059  females  to  1000  males,  in  1891  there  were 
only  1007.  In  Scotland  the  proportion  was  1128  in  1821 
and  only  1072  in  1891.  Is  this  an  effort  of  nature  to  re- 
store equilibrium  ? In  England  the  change  has  been  the 
other  way,  the  number  of  females  to  1000  males  having 
been  1038  in  1821-31  and  1060  in  1881-91. 

Sex  in  Cities.  In  large  cities  there  is  commonly  an  ex- 
cess of  females.  In  England  there  were  109  females  to  100 
males  in  the  urban  districts,  while  in  the  rural  districts  the 
proportion  was  only  101  to  100.  Up  to  the  age  of  10 
there  is  practically  no  difference  in  this  respect  between  * 
the  two  districts,  the  proportion  of  males  being  almost  the 
same  as  that  of  the  other  sex.  After  the  age  of  10  the 
girls  begin  to  migrate  to  the  towns  as  domestic  servants, 
leaving  their  brothers  behind  them,  and  this  migration 
continuing  during  the  next  period,  the  proportion  of 
females  at  the  age  15  to  20  is,  in  towns,  107  to  100  males, 
while  in  the  rural  districts  it  is  only  87.  Then  begins  the 
migration  of  men  to  the  towns,  so  that  the  excess  of  females 
is  diminished.  During  the  age  period  35  to  45  the  pro- 
portion is  very  nearly  the  same.  As  old  age  comes  on, 
the  excess  of  females  in  towns  again  becomes  very  large. 
There  are  two  possible  explanations  of  this : — One  is 
that  old  men  migrate  from  the  towns  back  to  the  country. 


SEX,  AGE,  AND  CONJUGAL  CONDITION. 


45 


and  the  second,  that  town  life  is  more  inimical  to  old  men 
than  to  old  women.  Dr.  Ogle  thinks  that  both  of  these 
causes  are  at  work.  He  finds  that  the  death-rate  for  per- 
sons from  65  to  65  years  of  age  was  in  London  34  per  cent 
greater  for  males  than  for  females,  while  in  the  rural  dis- 
tricts it  was  only  16  per  cent  greater.  The  other  assump- 
tion is  incapable  of  statistical  proof,  but  men  become 
incapacitated  for  work  earlier  than  women,  to  whom  a 
variety  of  light  occupations  is  still  open  even  in  advanced 
age,  so  that  it  is  not  improbable  that  they  retire  to  the 
country,  where  living  is  cheaper,  at  an  earlier  age  than  old 
women.  1 Statistics  of  other  countries  show  a similar  ex- 
cess of  females  in  cities. 

Population  by  Age.  Distribution  by  single  years  makes 
so  many  divisions  that  it  is  customary  to  group  the  popu- 
lation by  quinquennial  or  decennial  periods.  In  countries 
with  increasing  population  the  lower  age  classes  are  always 
well  filled.  The  typical  example  is  Germany,  where  one- 
third  of  the  population  is  under  the  age  of  15.  In  coun- 
tries where  the  population  is  stationary,  the  middle-age 
classes  are  well  filled  and  there  is  a large  proportion  of 
old  men.  France  is  the  typical  example.  England  is  a 
country  where  population  is  increasing  at  a moder- 
ate rate  and  stands  between  Germany  and  France.  Ire- 
land approaches  France  because  population  is  decreasing, 
but  emigration  taking  away  a large  number  of  adults 
makes  the  proportion  of  children  larger  than  in  France. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  number  of  children  in  Ireland  is 
smaller  than  in  either  England  or  Scotland,  while  the 
number  of  old  people  is  greater.  The  real  weakness  is  in 
the  age  class  30  to  40,  that  is,  in  the  productive  years. 

Immigration  influences  the  population  of  a country  by 
increasing  the  proportion  in  the  middle-age  classes  and 
decreasing  that  of  the  children  and  old  people.  In  the 
United  States  Ave  have  several  classes,  the  whites  and 
1 Census  of  England,  1891,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  31. 


46 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


coloured,  the  native  and  the  foreign-born.  The  foreign- 
born  have  very  few  children  because  there  are  very  few 
children  among  the  immigrants,  and  the  children  born  here 
go  to  swell  the  number  of  the  native-born.  The  various 
contrasts  are  shown  in  the  following  table  : 


Population  bt  Age.  Percentage  in  Each  Geoup.^ 


Eng- 

land. 

Scot- 

land. 

Ire- 

land. 

France. 

Ger- 

many. 

United 

States. 

U.  S.  United 
Foreign  States 
White.  Coloured. 

Under  10, 

23.9 

24.3 

20.8 

17.5 

24.2 

24.29 

3.67 

28.22 

10  to  20, 

21.3 

21.6 

23.4 

17.4 

20.7 

21.70 

10.06 

25.19 

20  to  30, 

17.2 

16.8 

16.2 

16.3 

16.2 

18.24 

21.81 

17.40 

30  to  40, 

13.1 

12.6 

10.8 

13.8 

12.7 

13.49 

19.88 

11.26 

40  to  50, 

9.9 

9.6 

9.8 

12.3 

10.4 

9.45 

18.06 

7.89 

50  to  60, 

7.1 

7.2 

8.5 

10.1 

7.8 

6.38 

13.53 

4.92 

60  to  70, 

4.7 

4.8 

6.0 

7.6 

5.2 

3.94 

8.65 

2.87 

70  and  over,  2.8 

3.1 

4.5 

5.0 

2.8 

2.51 

4.34 

2.25 

Large  cities  generally  have  a large  proportion  of  adults 
from  the  age  of  20  to  40,  owing  to  the  influx  of  strangers. 
In  Germany  (1885)  the  population  was  distributed  as  in 
the  accompanying  table. ^ 


Age.  Large  Cities.  All  Germany. 

Under  20  39.3  44.9 

20  to  40  37.2  28.8 

Over  40  23.5  26.3 


100.0  100.0 

Some  industrial  cities,  however,  show  a large  number  of 
children  due  to  the  large  number  of  young  married  per- 
sons and  the  heavy  birth-rate.  This  varying  age  constitu- 
tion of  urban  populations  is  an  important  consideration  in 
calculating  the  real  death-rate,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter. 
The  Western  states  of  the  United  States  are  very  much 
like  cities  in  this  respect. 

Population  may  be  grouped  in  many  other  different 
ways  for  particular  purposes.  One  is  as  productive  and 

1 Stat.  Arcliiv,  III.,  pp.  403  ff.  U.  S.  Census,  1890. 

2 Briickner,  in  Allg.  Statis.  Archiv,  I.,  p.  651. 


SEX,  AGE,  AND  CONJUGAL  CONDITION. 


47 


unproductive,  taking  those  from  the  age  of  15  to  70  as 
productive  and  those  below  or  above  that  age  as  unpro- 
ductive. Ordinarily  the  productive  population  varies  be- 
tween 60  and  70  per  cent  of  the  whole.  The  United 
States  shows  the  smallest  percentage,  namely,  60.1,  while 
France  shows  the  largest,  namely,  68.2.  It  would  seem  as 
if  France  were  in  the  better  situation  ; but  we  must  also 
consider  that  the  small  number  of  children  now  may  make 
a small  number  of  producers  in  the  future. 

Military  Age.  It  is  sometimes  of  interest  to  know  the 
proportion  of  males  capable  of  serving  in  the  army.  This 
is  to  a certain  extent  indicative  of  the  military  strength 
of  the  nation.  The  proportion  of  those  actually  in  the 
army  is  indicative  of  the  burden  of  military  service.  Or- 
dinarily the  military  age  is  said  to  be  from  18  to  44  or  45 
years,  both  inclusive.  In  England  the  males  18  to  45  years 
of  age  were  19.5  per  cent  of  the  total  population.  In 
Germany,  in  1885,  males  between  the  ages  of  18  and  45 
numbered  9,128,722,  or  19.4  per  cent  of  the  total  popula- 
tion. The  proportion  varied  in  different  parts  of  the 
empire,  being  generally  high  in  the  large  cities,  as,  for 
instance,  Berlin,  25.2  per  cent,  Hamburg,  23  per  cent ; and 
low  in  the  country  districts  such  as  Wiirtemberg,  17.8 
per  cent,  Posen,  17.8  per  cent,  etc.  We  may  say,  how- 
ever, that,  as  a rule,  about  one-fifth  of  the  population  of 
Germany  is  of  an  age  to  serve  in  the  army.  The  propor- 
tion of  those  who  may  be  actually  called  into  service  (from 
the  age  of  20  to  37)  comprises  6,134,578  males,  or  13  per 
cent  of  the  total  population,  and  this  represents  the  total 
number  of  men  from  whom  Germany  recruits  her  army. 
Of  course  only  a small  proportion  of  these  are  in  actual 
service.  In  1894-95  the  German  army  and  navy  numbered 
605,046  out  of  an  estimated  population  of  51,217,000,  that 
is,  a little  over  one  per  cent. 

In  the  United  States  the  males  18  to  44  years,  both 
inclusive,  numbered  13,230,168,  that  is  21.1  per  cent  of  the 


48 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


total  population.  Of  the  whole  number,  the  native-born 
constituted  10,424,086,  or  78.79  per  cent,  and  the  foreign- 
born  2,806,082,  or  21.21  per  cent.  Since  the  foreign -horn 
constitute  only  14.77  per  cent  of  the  aggregate  popula- 
tion, they  are  excessively  represented  among  those  of  mili- 
tary age.  If  we  separate  the  two  classes  we  find  that  the 
native  whites  of  military  age  are  19.8  per  cent  of  the  total 
native  white  population  ; while  the  foreign-horn  of  mili- 
tary age  are  29.7  per  cent  of  the  total  foreign-born  popu- 
lation. These  proportions  are  explained  of  course  by  the 
facts  mentioned  above. 

Voting  Age.  The  number  of  persons  of  aniage  to  exer- 
cise the  right  of  suffrage  is  of  some  interest,  especially 
when  brought  into  comparison  with  the  actual  number 
exercising  the  right.  In  Germany  the  number  of  males 
25  years  of  age  and  over  (the  age  required  for  voting 
for  members  of  the  Reichstag)  is  22.3  per  cent  of  the 
total  population.  It  is  higher  in.  cities  and  lower  in  the 
country,  as  usual. 

In  the  United  States  the  number  of  males  21  years  of  age 
and  over  is  27.05  per  cent  of  the  total  population.  Here 
we  have  several  classifications  that  are  of  interest.  Of 
the  total  number  of  males  21  years  of  age  and  over,  74.33 
per  cent  are  native-born  and  25.67  per  cent  are  foreign- 
born.  The  potential  voters  among  the  foreign-born  num- 
ber 47.01  per  cent  of  the  foreign-born  population.  The 
voting  strength  of  the  foreign-born  would  thus  seem  to 
be  formidable.  But  they  cannot  vote  until  they  are 
naturalized,  so  that  although  the  foreign-born  males  21 
years  of  age  and  over  are  25.67  per  cent,  yet  only  58.55  per 
cent  of  them  being  naturalized  it  reduces  their  actual  vot- 
ing strength  to  15.02  per  cent  of  the  total  males  21  years 
of  age  and  over.  If  we  consolidate  the  foreign  vote  and  the 
native  vote  of  foreign  parentage,  the  percentage  for  the 
whole  of  the  United  States  is  34.77.  The  possible  vote 
may  be  still  larger  than  this  as  foreigners  become  natui-al- 


SEX,  AGE,  AND  CONJUGAL  CONDITION. 


49 


ized.  Male  native  whites  of  native  parentage  constitute 
only  51.98  per  cent  of  the  total  male  population  21 
years  of  age  and  over.  That  is  to  say,  only  about  one- 
half  of  the  potential  voting  power  among  the  men  in  the 
United  States  is  held  by  whites  of  American  birth  and 
parentage. 

School  Age.  The  number  of  childi’en  of  school  age  is 
a matter  of  interest,  especially  in  countries  where  there 
is  compulsory  school  attendance.  There  is  some  differ- 
ence in  custom  as  to  the  limits  of  the  school  age  in 
various  countries,  and  in  different  states.  In  England 
the  children  from  3 to  13  years  of  age  were  23.2  per  cent 
of  the  whole  population.  In  Germany  the  compulsory 
school  age  is  from  full  6 years  to  under  14  years.  In 
1885  the  number  of  children  of  that  age  amounted  to 
8,609,198,  or  18.3  per  cent  of  the  total  population.  In 
the  United  States,  in  1890,  the  number  of  children  from 
5 to  17  years,  both  inclusive,  was  18,543,201,  or  29.6  per 
cent  of  the  total  population.  The  native  whites  between 
5 and  17  years  were  14,946,990,  or  32.5  per  cent  of  the 
total  native  white  population ; while  the  foreign  whites 
of  school  age  were  only  917,475,  or  10  per  cent  of  the 
total  foreign  white  population.  This  great  difference  in 
proportion  is  due,  again,  to  the  large  number  of  adults 
among  the  immigrants,  and  to  the  fact  that  the  children 
of  the  foreigners  born  in  the  United  States  are  classed  as 
natives.  If  we  take  these  native  whites  of  foreign  parents 
we  shall  find  that  there  are  4,400,105  of  school  age,  show- 
ing a percentage  of  38.2  of  that  class.  The  coloured  of 
school  age  constitute  2,678,736  persons,  or  35  per  cent  of 
the  total  coloured  population.  This  seems  to  be  an  enor- 
mous proportion.  The  interesting  point  in  these  compari- 
sons is  to  show  the  burden  of  common  school  education 
which  rests  upon  the  different  states.  In  this  respect  the 
proportion  of  children  of  school  age  in  the  United  States 
is  very  heavy.  The  very  large  proportion  among  the 


50 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


coloured  increases  tlie  burden  because  they  are  of  the 
ignorant  classes,  and  the  large  number  of  those  of  foreign 
birth  or  at  least  of  foreign  parentage  also  renders  the 
task  more  difficult. 

In  European  censuses  other  age  classifications  are  often 
made.  In  Germany  we  have  the  age  of  majority  from 
the  completed  twenty-first  year,  the  number  of  persons  of 
that  age  being  53.3  per  cent  of  the  total  population,  vary- 
ing from  60.5  per  cent  in  Berlin  down  to  48.5  per  cent  in 
an  agricultural  district  like  Posen.  In  the  same  way  we 
have  the  marriageable  age.  In  Germany  the  men  20 
years  of  age  and  over  constitute  26.5  per  cent  of  the  total 
population,  and  the  women  16  years  of  age  and  over  con- 
stitute 32.3  per  cent.  Then  we  have  the  women  of  child- 
bearing age,  that  is  from  17  to  under  50,  who  constitute 
in  Germany  22.9  per  cent  of  the  total  population.  AU 
these  combinations  and  other  similar  ones  may  be  made 
up  for  any  country  from  the  tables  of  population  accord- 
ing to  age.^ 

Average  Age  of  the  Living.  If  we  take  all  the  people 
of  a country  and  add  together  their  ages  and  di-vdde  by 
the  number  of  people,  we  have  ‘the  average  age  of  the 
living.  In  Germany  it  is  about  27  years ; in  France  it 
is,  for  males,  30.69  and  for  females,  31.19  years ; in  Eng- 
land it  is  25.31  for  males  and  25.86  for  females.  This 
average  age  of  the  living  is  sometimes  confounded  vdth 
the  average  length  of  life,  or  the  probability  of  life.  But 
it  is  not  safe  to  draw  any  conclusions  from  this  number 
as  to  the  health  or  viability  of  a community.  For  the 
average  may  be  made  up  from  a great  variety  of  figures, 
the  result  of  many  different  causes,  some  of  which  are 
favourable  and  others  unfavourable  to  the  well-being  of 
the  community.  A large  infant  mortality,  by  leaving  a 
relatively  small  number  of  individuals  in  the  lower  age 

1 Jahrbuch,  1889.  Similar  figures  for  England  in  General  Report, 
Census  1891,  p.  30. 


SEX,  AGE,  AND  CONJUGAL  CONDITION.  51 

classes,  woiild  increase  the  average  age  of  the  living, 
although  it  would  not  he  a sign  of  good  economic  or  social 
conditions.  Thus,  in  Bavaria,  where  infant  mortality  is 
very  great,  the  average  age  of  the  living  is  more  than  29 
years.  In  France  the  average  age  is  also  very  high,  but 
owing  to  an  entirely  different  reason,  namely,  a small 
number  of  births.  Emigration  of  full-grown  men  and 
women  tends  to  diminish  the  average  age  of  the  living, 
and  immigration  of  the  same  classes  tends  to  increase  it, 
although  neither  may  have  anything  to  do  with  the  gen- 
eral health  of  the  community. 

Conjugal  Condition.  In  studying  the  conjugal  con- 
dition of  the  population  we  take  only  the  persons  over  15 
years  of  age,  because  marriage  does  not  begin  until  that 
age.  The  relative  proportion  of  the  four  classes  ( omitting 
the  divorced,  who  are  a mere  fraction)  in  various  countries 
is  shown  in  the  following  table  : ^ 

Percentage  of  Males  over  Percentage  of  Females  over 

15  who  are  15  who  are 


Single. 

Married. 

Widowed. 

Single. 

Married. 

Widowed. 

Austria  . . 

43.8 

51.3 

4.8 

40.0 

48.1 

11.8 

Hungary . . 

31.5 

63.7 

4.7 

22.0 

62.8 

15.0 

Switzerland 

46.2 

48.0 

6.4 

41.6 

45.6 

12.3 

Italy  . . . . 

40.9 

53.1 

6.0 

33.2 

53.2 

13.6 

France  . . 

36.0 

56.5 

7.5 

30.0 

55.3 

14.7 

Great  Britain 

39.5 

54.9 

5.6 

37.3 

60.9 

11.8 

Ireland  . . 

49.3 

44.8 

5.9 

43.5 

42.1 

14.4 

Belgium  . . 

46.0 

47.6 

6.5 

41.8 

47.1 

11.1 

Holland  . . 

42.2 

52.0 

6.8 

38.7 

49.8 

11.4 

Germany 

40.9 

53.7 

5.3 

36.5 

50.8 

12.4 

Sweden  . . 

42.6 

61.9 

5.4 

40.8 

47.1 

12.0 

Norway  . . 

43.3 

51.0 

5.6 

41.7 

47.0 

11.1 

This  table  shows  us  some  interesting  differences.  The 
married  males  are  generally  a little  over  50  per  cent 
of  the  males  above  15,  and  the  married  females  are  some- 
what less.  The  larger  proportion  among  the  males  is  due 


1 Statistik  des  Deutsehen  Reichs,  No.  44,  p.  35.* 


52 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


to  the  fact  that  marriage  is  more  often  dissolved  by  the 
death  of  the  husband  than  by  that  of  the  wife,  so  that 
there  are  always  more  widows  than  widowers.  This  is 
seen  clearly  in  the  columns  headed  “widowed.”  Widow- 
ers also  remarry  more  frequently  than  widows,  thereby 
increasing  the  proportion  of  “married.”  The  proportion 
of  widows  is  almost  always  twice  that  of  widowers. 

There  are  striking  differences  between  countries.  Hun- 
gary has  a very  large  proportion  of  “married.”  This 
is  probably  due  to  early  marriages,  as  shown  by  the  fact 
that  only  22  per  cent  of  the  women  above  the  age  of  15 
are  single.  Early  marriages  (and  remarriages  of  widow- 
ers, which  are  said  to  be  frequent  in  Hungary)  produce 
many  widows,  as  is  seen  in  the  high  proportion  (15  per 
cent).  France  also  shows  a large  proportion  of  widows, 
due  to  the  comparatively  large  number  of  old  people.  In 
Ireland  the  proportion  of  married  persons  is  very  small, 
on  account  of  the  emigration  of  young  men  and  women 
of  marriageable  age.  The  contrast  between  two  corm- 
tries  lying  side  by  side  like  Belgium  and  Holland  is  very 
noticeable.  It  probably  means  .that  marriage  is  deferred 
to  a later  age  in  Belgium. 

The  importance  of  these  statistics  lies  in  two  directions. 
They  point  to  fundamental  differences  in  the  constitution 
of  the  population  of  different  countries  which  must  have 
some  effect  on  the  social  organization,  the  life,  and  activity 
of  the  community.  And  the  relative  number  of  the 
single,  married,  and  widowed  affects  also  all  vital  statistics, 
especially  births.  Conjugal  condition  seems  also  to  affect 
certain  social  phenomena,  such  as  crime,  'vuce,  suicide,  and 
pauperism.  This  classification  is  therefore  fundamental 
for  any  precise  characterization  of  such  phenomena. 

Conjugal  Condition  hy  Age.  Whether  a man  is  married 
or  not  depends  very  much  upon  his  age.  If  we  distribute 
the  population  into  three  classes,  15  to  40,  40  to  60,  60 
and  over,  we  shall  get  more  precise  results  in  regard  to 


SEX,  AGE,  AND  CONJUGAL  CONDITION. 


53 


conjugal  condition.  The  figures  for  Germany  (1872-80) 
are  shown  in  the  following  table  : 


Men 

Women 

15-40  40-60  60 

and  over 

15-40  40-60  60 

and  over 

Single  .... 

. 62.1 

9.6 

8.2 

53.6 

12.1 

11.3 

Married  . . . 

. 37.3 

84.8 

62.2 

44.5 

70.2 

35.5 

Widowed  and  D. 

. 0.6 

5.6 

29.6 

1.9 

17.7 

53.2 

100.0 

100.0 

100.0 

100.0 

100.0 

100.0 

A careful  study  of  this  table  shows  some  very  interest- 
ing differences  between  the  two  sexes.  In  the  lowest 
age  class,  15  to  40,  the  proportionate  number  of  single 
is  greater  among  men  than  among  women,  while  in  the 
upper  age  classes  it  is  less.  This  is  due  to  the  fact  that 
in  the  earlier  years  single  women  marry  more  frequently 
than  single  men,  while  at  a more  advanced  age  they  have 
less  chance  of  marrying.  In  the  upper  age  classes  the 
proportion  of  the  married  is  greater  among  men  than 
among  women  because  of  earlier  widowhood  among  women 
and  the  fact  that  widows  have  less  chance  of  remarrying 
than  widowers.  For  the  same  reasons,  the  proportion  of 
widowed  and  divorced  is  greater  at  all  age  periods  among 
women  than  among  men. 

It  would  lead  us  too  far  to  carry  out  all  these  details  of 
conjugal  condition  according  to  sex  and  age  for  different 
countries.  Some  special  points  may  be  noticed  which  are 
of  interest.  Von  Mayr  has  remarked  that  the  proportion 
of  married  persons  to  the  population  over  15  years  of 
age  gives  us  no  exact  information  as  to  the . number  of 
persons  unable  or  unwilling  to  get  married,  because  at  the 
age  of  16  marriage  is  just  beginning.  If  we  take,  how- 
ever, the  proportion  of  persons  60  years  of  age  and  over 
who  are  not  and  never  have  been  married,  we  have  some 
indication  of  the  number  of  people  unable  or  unwilling  to 
marry. 

In  the  above  table  for  Germany  8.2  per  cent  of  the  men 


54 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


and  11.3  per  cent  of  the  women  above  the  age  of  60  are 
still  single.  In  England,  Germany,  and  France  the  pro- 
portions are  about  the  same.  In  Sweden  and  Norway 
they  are  lower,  while  in  Holland,  Belgium,  Italy,  Switzer- 
land, Austria,  and  Ireland  the  proportion  is  over  10  per 
cent,  in  some  cases  running  as  high  as  15  per  cent. 

It  would  seem  from  these  figures  that  the  normal  pro- 
portion of  bachelors  in  the  population  above  60  was  about 
10  per  cent,  and  of  single  women  was  somewhat  greater. 
There  are,  however,  considerable  variations  due  to  peculiar 
age  constitution  or  to  particular  laws  and  customs.  In  a 
portion  of  Bavaria,  for  instance,  owing  to  the  mfluence  of 
the  old  marriage  laws,  16.9  per  cent  of  the  men  and  25.7 
per  cent  of  the  women  above  the  age  of  60  are  still  im- 
married.  In  the  other  part  of  Bavaria  called  the  Palati- 
nate the  proportions  are  only  5.2  and  10.1  respectively.^ 

Von  Mayr  also  tries  to  indicate  the  commonness  of  the 
marriage  state,  that  is,  the  proportion  of  marriageable 
people  whom  we  may  ordinarily  expect  to  find  living  in 
the  married  state.  For  this  purpose  we  may  take  the 
proportion  of  married  persons  between  the  ages  of  40  and 
60.  At  that  time  most  marriages  have  been  consummated, 
while  not  too  many  have  been  broken  by  death.  The 
normal  number  appears  to  be  about  75  per  cent.  In 
Germany  (see  above)  84.8  per  cent  of  the  men  and  70.2 
per  cent  of  the  women,  between  40  and  60,  were  living  in 
the  married  state.  Similar  statistics  for  other  countries 
give  about  80  per  cent  for  men  and  70  per  cent  for  women. 
Switzerland,  Belgium,  and  Ireland  seem  to  have  smaller 
proportions  among  both  men  and  women,  about  73  per 
cent  for  men  and  62  (Belgium  68)  for  women.  In  the 
case  of  Ireland  the  reason  for  this  is  emigration.  In 

1 Dr.  Ogle  has  shown  that  celibacy  is  least  among  shopkeepers,  then 
come  artisans  and  labourers,  while  the  proportion  of  permanent  bachelors 
is  by  far  the  greatest  among  the  professional  and  independent  class.  J our. 
Stat.  Soc.,  1890,  p.  276. 


SEX,  AGE,  AND  CONJUGAL  CONDITION. 


55 


Switzerland  and  Belgium  there  is  a very  large  proportion 
of  single  persons  in  the  population  40  to  60  years  of  age, 
running  over  19  per  cent,  while  the  ordinary  proportion 
in  other  countries  is  from  12  to  15  per  cent.  There  seems 
to  be  a strong  tendency  for  men  and  women  in  these 
countries  to  remain  single. 

If  we  compare  the  conjugal  condition  of  men  and  women 
at  successive  quinquennial  age  periods  we  shall  have  a 
vivid  picture  of  the  family  life  of  the  community.  Below 
the  age  of  15  all  the  men  are  single.  At  the  age  of  20 
they  begin  to  marry,  and  at  the  age  period  25  to  30  the 
number  of  married  is  about  equal  to  the  number  stUl 
single,  while  a few  have  already  become  widowed  or 
divorced.  From  this  point  on  the  relative  number  of  the 
married  compared  with  the  single  is  always  greater, 
although  from  the  age  period  30  to  35  the  absolute  num- 
ber begins  to  decline.  In  other  words,  death  carries  off 
more  married  men  than  marriage  is  able  to  create  out  of 
the  ranks  of  the  single  and  the  widowed.  The  number  of 
the  widowed  increases  steadily  until  the  age  period  75  to 
80,  when  it  exceeds  that  of  the  married.  From  that  time 
on  the  absolute  number  of  widowers  decreases  because  the 
source  of  supply  is  exhausted.  Among  women  the  process 
is  a little  different  because  marriage  occurs  at  an  earlier 
age.  In  the  age  period  25  to  30  the  married  and  widowed 
women  are  almost  double  the  single  women  ; at  the  age 
period  60  to  65  the  widowed  and  divorced  already  nearly 
equal  the  number  of  married  women  ; from  the  age  of  65 
the  proportionate  number  of  widows  to  married  women 
increases  enormously.  The  above  description  relates  to 
the  age  classification  according  to  conjugal  condition  as 
shown  by  the  Prussian  census  of  1890.  In  other  countries 
the  particular  relations  might  be  slightly  different  owing 
to  differences  in  age  distribution  and  in  the  time  of  mar- 
riage, but  the  general  course  of  events  would  be  the  same.^ 
1 Zeitschrift  des  Preuss.  Bureaus,  1892,  p.  233. 


56 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


In  Massachusetts,  in  1885,  they  compared  the  number  of 
native-born  persons  20  years  of  age  and  over  with  the 
foreign-born  of  the  same  age  as  regards  conjugal  condi- 
tion. It  was  found,  of  course,  that  the  number  of  married 
among  the  foreign-born  was  proportionately  greater  than 
among  the  native-born,  because  the  foreigners  are  very 
largely  in  the  early  years  of  manhood  and  womanhood. 
Of  the  foreign-born  53  per  cent  were  married  and  10  per 
cent  widowed,  while  of  the  native-born  only  32  per  cent 
were  married  and  6 per  cent  widowed.^  These  figures 
give  rise  to  interesting  reflections  in  regard  to  the  increase 
of  the  foreign  element  in  the  United  States. 

Scientific  Tests. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  statistical  method  is  the 
proper  one  for  the  classification  of  population  according  to 
sex,  age,  and  conjugal  condition.  The  chief  question  is 
whether  there  are  any  particular  difficulties  connected 
with  the  collection  ot  the  statistics,  and  whether  they  can 
be  tabulated  in  such  a way  as  to  show  social  relations.  In 
regard  to  the  statistics  of  sex  there  is  ordinarily  no  reason 
to  doubt  their  accuracy.  Even  where  a census  is  defective 
there  would  seem  to  be  no  reason  why  one  sex  should  be 
omitted  more  than  the  other,  so  that  the  relative  number 
of  males  to  females  would  seem  to  be  pretty  weU  estab- 
lished. There  are,  however,  some  exceptions  to  this. 
One  of  the  most  remarkable  is  furnished  by  the  last  census 
of  India,  which  returned  six  and  a quarter  million  fewer 
women  than  men.  This  made  a proportion  of  958  females 
to  1000  males.  The  proportion  varied  in  the  different 
provinces  between  804  and  1084  to  1000.  There  has  been 
much  discussion  as  to  whether  tliis  small  proportion  of 
women  is  due  to  omissions,  or  whether  the  number  of 
women  is  really  so  much  smaller  than  that  of  men.  Un- 
doubtedly part  is  due  to  simple  omissions.  Women  are 
Census  Mass.,  1885,  Ft.  L,  p.  53. 


SEX,  AGE,  AND  CONJUGAL  CONDITION. 


57 


held  in  such  low  esteem  that  many  males,  heads  of  house- 
holds, would  simply  neglect  to  return  daughters  or  female 
servants,  not  thinking  the  matter  of  sufficient  importance. 
Others  having  daughters  of  marriageable  age  not  yet  mar- 
ried, would  neglect  to  return  them  on  account  of  a feeling 
of  shame,  and  among  the  hill  tribes  there  is  said  to  be  con- 
siderable jealousy  in  regard  to  their  wives  and  daughters. 
From  these  various  causes  it  is  believed  that  there  were 
very  considerable  omissions  in  the  number  of  females 
returned,  the  largest  deficiency  being  between  the  ages  of 
10  and  15.  At  that  age  there  were  only  795  girls  to  1000 
boys.  It  is  probable  also  that  there  are  real  causes  tend- 
ing to  decrease  the  number  of  females.  Infanticide  is 
not  now  practised  to  any  great  extent,  but  girls  are  still 
regarded  as  more  or  less  of  a burden  because  a do-\vry 
must  be  provided  for  them  when  married,  so  that  they  are 
less  well  taken  care  of  than  boys.  Early  marriages,  child- 
bearing at  immature  age,  and  insufficient  medical  care  are 
also  fatal  to  the  life  of  the  female.  Later  on  in  life  there 
is  not  that  distinction  of  emplo3rments  which  increases  the 
mortality  of  men  in  European  countries.  The  mass  of 
the  people  in  India  are  engaged  in  agriculture,  and 
women  share  equally  with  men  in  the  labours  of  the 
field.  Mortality  tends  to  bear  equally  on  the  two  sexes, 
so  that  it  is  not  until  the  age  of  60  that  the  number  of 
surviving  women  is  greater  than  the  number  of  men.^ 

In  Europe  we  do  not  find  any  such  prejudices  in  regard 
to  returning  the  true  number  of  either  sex.  Occasionally 
there  are  practical  difficulties  in  getting  at  the  number 
of  men  belonging  to  a given  community.  This  is  due 
either  to  their  absence  as  soldiers,  marines  or  sailors, 
or  to  the  agglomeration  of  men  in  particular  localities, 
either  soldiers  in  garrison,  or  men  drawn  together  by  indus- 
trial works.  The  most  striking  example  of  this  is  Eng- 
land. If  we  exclude  the  army,  navy,  marines,  and  mer- 
1 Census  of  India,  1891,  p.  244. 


58 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


chant  seamen  abroad,  the  number  of  females  is  1063.3  to 
1000  males  ; while  if  we  include  these  classes  the  number 
of  females  is  only  1049.1  to  1000  males.  It  is  necessary 
for  us  to  know  whether  these  classes  are  included  or  ex- 
cluded in  the  enumeration  of  any  country.  The  chief 
scientific  test,  therefore,  is  to  examine  the  figures  with 
care  in  order  to  see  whether  the  excess  of  males  or  females 
may  not  be  due  to  some  purely  local  and  possibly  tempo- 
rary cause.  The  general  causes  are  those  noted  above,  viz., 
the  greater  mortality  of  men,  emigration,  and  immigration. 
These  may  be  called  real  social  causes,  that  is,  they  are 
wide-spread  and  general  in  their  nature.  Emigration, 
it  is  true,  may  be  merely  temporary,  like  the  Irish  passing 
into  England,  and  Italians  across  the  frontier  into  France 
at  harvest  time  or  some  other  occasion  for  securuig  work. 
The  time  of  taking  the  census  might  have  great  effect  in 
distorting  the  relative  number  of  the  sexes  for  particular 
sections  owing  to  these  temporary  causes.  It  is  desirable, 
where  possible,  to  eliminate  these  influences. 

A very  good  illustration  of  local  and  temporal  influ- 
ences is  found  in  the  relative  number  of  the  sexes  in 
the  cities  of  Germany,  which,  as  a rule,  show  a large  pro- 
portion of  females  compared  with  males.  This  has  not 
always  been  so.  In  Prussia,  in  1867,  there  were  only  990 
women  to  1000  men;  in  1875  there  were  1006;  and  in 
1885  and  1890  there  were  1037. 

It  is  somewhat  difficult  to  account  for  this  growing 
excess  of  females.  The  true  reason  seems  to  be  the 
establishment  of  factories  employing  women.  Owing  to 
this  cause  the  migratory  movement,  wliich  was  formerly 
much  more  prominent  among  men,  has  seized  the  women 
also.^  There  are  still  some  cities,  however,  where  there  is 
an  excess  of  males.  These  are  the  garrison  tovuis  like 
Magdeburg,  Strassburg,  Metz,  Mayence,  Potsdam,  and 

1 Stat.  JahrMch  deutscher  Stadte,  1892,  p.  21.  Preuss.  Zeitschrift, 
1892,  p.  147.  Allg.  Stat.  Archiv,  1890,  p.  628. 


SEX,  AGE,  AND  CONJUGAL  CONDITION. 


59 


Kiel,  and  places  like  Dortmund  and  Essen,  where  there 
are  large  ironworks. 

When  we  consider  the  general  reasons  for  an  excess  of 
one  sex  over  the  other,  aside  from  the  particular  cases 
mentioned  above,  it  is  interesting  to  ask  whether  the 
relative  strength  of  the  different  influences  can  be  meas- 
ured. Such  an  attempt  has  been  made  in  Prussia.  From 
1871  to  1885  the  statistics  of  births  and  deaths  show  that 
there  should  have  been  an  excess  of  59,250  women  over 
men.  As  a matter  of  fact,  by  the  census  of  1885,  there 
was  an  excess  of  174,639  women.  How  shall  we  account 
for  this  difference  of  115,389  in  the  excess  of  women  ? 
If  we  take  the  statistics  of  emigration  from  1872  to  1885, 
we  shall  find  an  excess  of  107,803  male  over  female  em- 
igrants. This  almost  exactly  balances  the  deficiency  of 
women  noted  above.  It  seems,  therefore,  that  the  excess 
of  women  over  men  in  Prussia  is  due  about  two-thirds 
to  emigration  and  one-third  to  natural  causes.^ 

Trustworthiness  of  Statistics  of  Age.  The  statistics  of 
age  are  much  more  uncertain  than  those  of  sex,  because 
many  people,  even  in  a civilized  community,  are  ignorant 
of  their  exact  age  or  give  it  wrongly  from  pure  careless- 
ness. This  is  shown  by  the  well-known  tendency  for 
the  ages  to  concentrate  on  the  years  ending  with  a 0 or 
the  figure  5.  Changes  from  age  to  age  should  be  gradual, 
unless  some  unusual  event  has  occurred  to  diminish  or 
increase  the  normal  number  of  a certain  age.  But  there 
is  always  a larger  number  returned  as  of  the  age  of  40 
years  than  of  either  39  or  41,  more  of  50  years  than  of 
either  49  or  51,  etc.  Some  illustrations  are  as  follows : 


Massachusetts,  1885,  number  of  persons  39  years  old  was  . . . 21,972 

Massachusetts,  1885,  number  of  persons  40  years  old  was  . . . 38,331 

Massachusetts,  1885,  number  of  persons  41  years  old  was  . . . 18,061 

Massachusetts,  1885,  number  of  persons  44  years  old  was  . . . 18,489 

Massachusetts,  1885,  number  of  persons  45  years  old  was  . . . 30,873 

Massachusetts,  1885,  number  of  persons  46  years  old  was  . . . 18,367 


1 Zeitschrift  des  Preuss.  Bureaus,  1888,  p.  231. 


60 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


Even  in  Prussia,  where  the  common  people  are  well  edu- 
cated, we  find  that  while  the  number  of  people  returned  in 
1890  as  40  years  of  age  was  372,604,  the  number  of  39  years 
was  only  335,607,  and  the  number  of  41  years  was  337,596. 
In  India,  where  the  population  is  very  ignorant,  the  con- 
centration on  the  decennial  periods  is  extraordinary.  Out 
of  100,000  persons  of  all  ages  the  number  returned  as  40 
years  of  age  was  5240,  of  39  years  was  322,  and  of  41 
years  was  216.  In  India  the  termination  5 is  the  next 
favourite,  the  figure  2 stands  third,  and  the  figure  8 fourth. 

In  England  the  number  of  women  returning  them- 
selves as  from  20  to  25  years  of  age  is  always  greater  than 
the  number  of  girls  10  to  15  years  of  age  ten  years 
previously,  although  they  are  only  the  survivors  of  the 
latter  after  a lapse  of  ten  years,  and  should  of  necessity 
be  fewer  in  number. 

The  absolute  numbers  in  the  age  classes  are  evidently 
far  from  being  correct  and  are  not  safe  to  use  by  them- 
selves. If,  for  instance,  we  find  a small  number  of  jieople 
in  the  age  class  19,  in  1890,  in  Germany,  it  is  not  per- 
missible to  attribute  it  to  a small  number  of  bii’ths  in  the 
year  1871  on  account  of  the  war.  Various  devices  are 
used  to  combat  this  difficulty.  One  is  the  arrangement 
by  iieriods,  0 to  4,  5 to  9,  10  to  14,  15  to  19,  20  to  24,  etc. 
Here  each  period  contains  a year  of  concentration  ending 
with  a 0 or  a 5,  while  the  depleted  years  each  side  of  the 
0 or  5 fall  into  different  periods.  In  England  they  take 
the  decennial  periods  25  to  34,  35  to  44,  45  to  54,  etc.,  so 
that  the  year  ending  with  0 will  fall  in  the  middle  of 
each  class.  There  are  some  difficulties  even  here,  for 
sometimes  other  years,  such  as  18  and  21,  are  favourites 
either  among  men  or  women.  Where  arbitrary  classes 
are  made,  as  from  5 to  17  (school  age),  17  to  45  (military 
age),  17  to  49  (child-bearing  age),  these  difficulties  are 
not  removed.  The  result  is  that  it  is  possible  to  use  these 
age  classifications  only  in  a very  general  way. 


SEX,  AGE,  AND  CONJUGAL  CONDITION. 


61 


A second  device  is  to  control  the  return  by  other  sta- 
tistics. There  is  apt  to  be  a larger  number  of  children 
two  years  old  than  one  year,  although  the  reverse  should 
be  the  case.  This  seems  to  be  due  to  a confusion  in  the 
minds  of  the  parents  as  to  whether  two  years  old  means 
in  the  second  year  or  in  the  completed  second  year. 
This  can  sometimes  be  controlled  by  means  of  the  regis- 
tration lists  of  births  and  deaths.  Among  those  of  middle 
age  this  means  of  control  is  useless  because  migration  is  so 
active  that  reference  to  the  registration  lists  is  of  no  avail. 
At  the  other  end, — persons  of  extreme  old  age, — an  inves- 
tigation can  be  made  for  each  case.  By  this  means  the  num- 
ber of  centenarians  is  being  steadily  reduced  from  census 
to  census,  as  greater  care  is  taken  to  investigate  the  proof. 
In  Prussia  the  number  of  persons  declared  to  be  100  years 
old  in  1890  was  149,  of  whom  more  than  one-half  were 
discovered  upon  investigation  to  be  of  less  age ; and  of 
these  8.8  per  cent  were  found  to  be  from  95  to  100 ; 14.3 
per  cent  between  90  and  95  ; and  the  rest  not  yet  90  years 
old.i 

Statistics  of  Conjugal  Condition.  Ordinarily  there 
would  seem  to  be  no  difficulty  in  believing  the  state- 
ments of  persons  in  regard  to  their  conjugal  condition. 
The  number  of  married  women  always  exceeds  that  of 
married  men  (England,  1891,  4,916,649  wives,  4,851,548 
husbands).  This  is  due  to  the  absence  of  the  husbands, 
although  probably  in  some  instances  women  return  them- 
selves as  wives  when  they  have  no  right  to  that  title.  It 
is  also  believed  that  many  divorced  persons  called  them- 
selves widowed  in  the  census  return.  This  may  account 
for  some  of  the  excessive  rates  of  crime,  insanity,  sui- 
cide, etc.,  found  among  the  divorced.  In  the  particular 
phenomenon  careful  inquiry  is  made  about  the  conjugal 

^ This  was  in  a total  population  of  30,000,000.  In  South  Carolina, 
in  1840,  out  of  a coloured  population  of  335,000  there  were  228  reported  as 
100  years  of  age  and  over ! 


62 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


condition  of  the  person,  while  in  the  census  such  careful 
inquiry  is  lacking.  ^ 

The  proportion  of  married  persons  in  the  population 
does  not  always  vary  according  to  the  number  of  mar- 
riages. In  England  the  average  annual  marriage-rate  in 
the  period  between  the  censuses  of  1881  and  1891  was 
very  considerably  lower  than  that  of  the  next  preceding  de- 
cennium,  but  the  proportion  of  married  persons  decreased 
very  slightly.  This  is  explained  by  the  fact  that  while 
a decline  in  the  marriage-rate  has  primarily  the  effect  of 
diminishing  the  proportion  of  married  men  and  women  in 
the  population,  it  has  the  secondary  effect  of  diminishing 
the  number  of  children  born,  and  thus  of  cutting  down 
also  the  proportion  of  the  unmarried.  This  would  not 
happen  if  we  took  simply  persons  above  the  age  of  15  for 
our  standard.^ 


Reflective  Analysis. 

The  distribution  of  population  by  sex  and  age  shows 
the  working  of  a variety  of  causes.  Can  we  generalize 
from  these  to  sociological  laws  of  wider  bearing,  tracing 
back  the  peculiarities  of  sex  and  age  distribution  to  natu- 
ral factors,  or  to  social  factors  of  universal  significance  ? 
Can  we,  for  instance,  trace  any  infiuence  of  climate  or  topo- 
graphical features  upon  the  proportions  of  the  sexes  or  of 
the  age  classes  ? Can  we  show  that  the  proportions  vary 
according  to  the  stages  of  civilization  ? Only  the  most 
general  results  are  to  be  expected. 

A German  statistician  traces  the  natural  influences  on 
the  proportion  of  sexes  as  follows:  In  cold  climates 

there  should  be  more  men  than  women  because  life  makes 
greater  demands  on  mere  physical  strength.  In  warm 
climates  there  should  be  more  women  than  men.  Social 
conditions,  however,  affect  the  proportion  of  the  sexes. 

1 Westergaard,  Mortalitat  und  Morbilitat,  p.35. 

2 Census  of  England,  1891,  General  Keport,  p.  33. 


SEX,  AGE,  AXD  CONJUGAL  CONDITION. 


63 


The  hunting  and  nomadic  conditions  are  more  favourable 
to  men  than  to  women.  In  early  agriculture  the  women 
bear  the  burden  as  well  as  the  men,  and  being  less  strong, 
perish  earlier.  As  civilization  advances  the  economic 
position  of  woman  improves  and  disastrous  social  events 
such  as  wars,  pestilences,  hard  times  seem  to  bear  heavier 
on  the  men,  and  we  find  an  excess  of  women.  Among 
particular  civilized  nations  or  sections  of  countries  the 
variation  in  the  proportion  of  the  sexes  seems  to  be  due 
neither  to  climate  nor  to  race,  but  to  social  causes,  the 
principal  of  which  are  emigration  and  immigration,  and 
industrial  development. 

Similar  remarks  would  seem  to  hold  good  in  respect  to 
the  distribution  of  population  by  ages.  It  is  not  probable 
that  climate  and  race  have  any  influence  except  as  they 
are  the  underlying  causes  of  varying  social  conditions. 
The  distribution  itself  is  determmed  by  the  rate  at  which 
population  is  increasing,  and  by  the  chances  of  life  at 
different  ages.  Among  savage  and  barbarous  tribes  there 
is  commonly  a large  number  of  births,  but  owing  to  the 
hardships  of  the  life  there  is  great  mortality.  Among 
such  peoples  there  are  very  few  old  men,  and  thus  the 
tendency  is  to  depress  the  age  classes.  As  nations  become 
more  civilized  greater  care  is  taken  of  human  life  and  the 
upper  age  classes  are  better  filled  out.  If  it  is  a progres- 
sive nation  population  continues  to  increase,  that  is,  the 
number  of  births  is  greater  from  year  to  year,  so  that  the 
lower  age  classes  are  also  well  filled  out.  A typical  case 
of  this  sort  is  Germany.  Increase  in  population  may  also 
be  brought  about,  not  by  increasing  the  birth-rate,  but  by 
decreasing  the  death-rate  through  sanitary  and  economic 
improvements.  In  such  a case  the  lower  age  classes  will 
be  proportionately  smaller,  while  the  middle  and  upper 
classes  will  be  strengthened.  An  approach  to  such  a 
type  is  seen  in  England.  Where  population  is  declining, 
although  the  upper  classes  may  be  well  filled,  the  weak- 


64 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


ness  of  the  lower  ones  is  fatal  for  the  future.  We  have 
no  example  of  this  among  civilized  nations,  although  the 
stationariness  of  population  in  France  has  alarmed  some 
of  her  economists  and  statesmen.  With  her,  however,  the 
question  is  not  so  much  sociological  as  political,  owing  to 
her  military  rivalry  with  Germany,  a country  of  rapidly 
increasing  population. 

Various  important  social  results  follow  the  distribution 
of  population  by  sex,  age,  and  conjugal  condition.  A large 
excess  of  unmarried  males  or  females  may  lead  to  condi- 
tions resultmg  in  social  vice  or  to  the  dependence  of  a 
large  class  in  the  community.  It  leads  often  also  to  vary- 
ing social  ideals  in  regard  to  the  position  and  privileges 
of  women.  There  seems  to  be  no  “ natural  ” law  of 
equality  in  the  number  of  the  sexes  such  as  was  formerly 
asserted  as  a support  for  monogamy.  One  or  the  other  is 
always  in  excess.  It  is  necessary  for  us  to  discover  the 
reasons  for  this  excess  in  order  to  adjust  social  institutions 
to  actual  conditions.  The  varying  distribution  by  age  and 
sex  affects  the  economic  productive  power  of  the  com- 
munity, as  has  been  insisted  upon  above.  Such  age  distri- 
bution is  an  index  of  the  economic  strength  of  the  nation. 
The  productive  ages  must  always  support  the  unproduc- 
tive. 

It  is  true  that  the  actual  age  distribution  does  not  seem 
to  be  within  the  control  of  man.  But  its  careful  study 
may  enable  us  to  judge  of  the  influence  of  social  forces 
which  can  be  encouraged  or  discouraged  by  public  opinion. 
This  fundamental  classification  of  poprdation  is  the  result 
of  great  natural  and  social  influences.  In  all  cases  it  is 
necessary  to  an  understanding  of  social  phenomena,  and 
in  many  it  gives  us  the  explanation  of  facts  of  practical 
bearing  on  social  life. 


CHAPTER  V. 


BIRTHS. 

Sociological  Purpose. 

The  population  of  the  world  or  of  a country  is  con- 
stantly losing  by  the  death  or  withdrawal  of  certain 
individuals  and  constantly  gaining  by  the  addition  of 
others.  It  is  like  an  army  whose  ranks  are  depleted  by 
deaths  and  desertions  but  continually  refilled  with  new 
recruits,  the  total  number  of  the  army  perhaps  increasing, 
perhaps  decreasing,  perhaps  remaining  the  same.  Sta- 
tistical observation  has  three  questions  to  investigate 
here  : (1)  Is  population  increasing  or  decreasing  ? — 
this  is  merely  to  establish  a fact  which  can  be  established 
only  by  statistical  enumeration.  (2)  At  what  rate  is 
population  increasing  or  decreasing  ? — this  also  is  merely 
the  establishment  of  a fact.  (3)  What  are  the  causes  of 
the  increase  or  decrease  ? This  last  is  the  attempt  to 
establish  a connection  of  cause  and  effect  in  social  phenom- 
ena by  means  of  statistical  observation.  For  the  world 
at  large  the  immediate  cause  of  an  increase  or  decrease  of 
population  is  the  relation  of  the  number  of  births  to  the 
number  of  deaths.  The  facts  for  a particular  country 
may  be  distorted  by  emigration  and  immigration,  but 
from  the  standpoint  of  statistics  they  are  secondary 
phenomena.  Back  of  them  lie  births  and  deaths  as  pri- 
mary factors. 

Births  are  the  primary  phenomenon  of  a continuing 
population.  If  it  were  not  for  births  population  would 

65 


F 


66 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


cease.  Hence  they  are  the  foundation  of  all  demographic 
or  demological  inquiries.  The  sociological  purpose  of  our 
investigation  extends  in  several  directions  in  accordance 
with  the  questions  noted  above.  In  the  first  place  we 
have  merely  to  constitute  a fact,  namely,  what  is  the 
number  of  births  in  a country  at  a given  time  or  in  suc- 
cessive periods  of  time.  This  bare  fact  has  great  politi- 
cal and  social  interest.  In  connection  with  the  number 
of  deaths  it  determines  the  natural  increase  of  the  popu- 
lation, the  population  of  the  future,  the  relative  strength 
of  nations.  For  the  purposes  of  comparison,  the  number 
of  births  is  commonly  expressed  by  a birth-rate,  z.e.,  the 
number  of  births  per  annum  per  1000  of  the  population. 
This  birth-rate  (although  somewhat  crude  in  itself) 
enables  us  to  compare  the  births  in  different  countries  or 
in  the  same  country  from  year  to  year.  Its  connection 
with  the  death-rate  reveals  a variety  of  conditions  of 
great  sociological  interest.  A population  may  increase 
by  having  a large  birth-rate  and  a large  death-rate  ; or  it 
may  increase  by  a comparatively  small  birth-rate  accom- 
panied by  a correspondingly  small  death-rate.  It  is,  how- 
ever, evident  that  these  two  different  relations  create 
different  social  conditions.  A large  or  small  birth-rate 
creates  a different  age  distribution,  with  certain  important 
consequences  to  be  mentioned  hereafter.  It  is  also  a mat- 
ter of  social  interest  to  observe  the  birth-rate  among 
different  classes  in  the  community,  the  rich  and  poor, 
urban  and  rural,  agricultural  and  industrial,  and  in  such 
a country  as  the  United  States  between  the  whites  and 
blacks,  the  native  and  foreign-born.  The  mere  relative 
growth  of  these  different  classes  is  often  a matter  of 
interest.  The  particular  sociological  purpose,  therefore, 
of  enumerating  the  number  of  births  in  any  commmiity 
is  to  bring  out  these  facts  clearly  and  scientifically  in 
order  to  direct  attention  to  social  conditions. 

But  there  is  a range  of  questions  in  regard  to  births. 


BIRTHS. 


67 


lying  deeper  than  these,  viz.,  what  is  the  cause  of  a large 
or  small  birth-rate  or  of  variations  in  the  birth-rate  ? 
We  can  conceive  of  two  sets  of  causes,  natural  and 
psychological.  In  the  individual  cases,  births  are  a pure 
process  of  nature  ; but  their  total  number  may  be  affected 
also  by  social-psychological  causes  influencing  large  bodies 
of  men.  Is  it  possible  for  us  to  demonstrate  that  the 
number  of  births  is  influenced  by  purely  natural  causes, 
such  as  climate,  geographical  and  topographical  position, 
the  seasons,  etc.  ? Then  there  are  great  influences  which 
are  partly  natural  and  partly  social,  such  as  race,  density 
of  population,  residence  in  city  or  country,  occupation, 
good  or  bad  nourishment,  economic  prosperity,  social 
hopefulness  and  ambition.  Do  any  of  these  have  influ- 
ence in  determining  the  birth-rate  ? Finally,  do  social 
customs  in  regard  to  marriage,  family  life,  sexual  moral- 
ity, public  opinion,  have  any  influence  on  the  number 
of  births  ? All  these  questions  may  be  reduced  to  two, 
namely,  the  influence  of  physical  and  the  influence  of 
social  environment. 

Some  minor  characteristics  of  births  are  subject  to 
the  same  analysis.  The  number  of  boys  and  girls 
born,  the  still-born,  and  multiple  births  seem  to  be  due 
to  physical  laws  of  which  we  have  little  or  no  knowl- 
edge. The  number  of  illegitimate  births  in  connection 
with  the  great  social  institution  of  marriage  and  with 
the  state  of  public  morality,  or  at  least  public  opinion, 
is  of  great  importance.  What  are  the  laws  which  govern 
these  phenomena,  and  what  is  their  relation  to  social 
conditions  and  social  progress  ? 

Statistical  Data. 

For  purposes  of  comparison  the  number  of  births  is 
expressed  as  a rate,  that  is,  the  number  of  births  per 
annum  for  each  1000  of  the  population.  This  is  called 
the  crude  birth-rate,  but  it  is  sufficiently  accurate  for 


^8 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY, 


general  purposes.  We  have  exact  statistics  of  births  for 
the  countries  of  Europe  only,  and  even  in  Europe  the 
statistics  for  Russia,  Spain,  Greece,  and  Turkey  are  not 
very  trustworthy.  Taking  the  average  for  a period  of 
twenty  years  in  order  to  avoid  accidental  fluctuations,  we 
have  the  following  birth-rates  : ^ 


Average 

1871-90. 

1891. 

1892. 

1898. 

Hungary  (1876-90)  . 

44.0 

42.3 

40.3 

42.5 

Austria 

38.6 

38.1 

36.2 

- 

Germany  .... 

38.1 

37.0 

35.7 

36.7 

Italy 

37.3 

37.3 

36.3 

36.6 

Holland 

35.2 

33.7 

32.0 

33.8 

England  and  Wales  . 

34.0 

31.4 

30.5 

30.8 

Scotland 

33.6 

31.2 

30.8 

31.0 

United  Kingdom  . . 

32.6 

30.4 

29.5 

29.9 

Denmark  .... 

31.7 

31.0 

29.5 

30.6 

Belgium 

31.0 

29.6 

28.9 

29.5 

Norway 

30.7 

30.9 

29.6 

30.7 

Sweden 

29.8 

28.3 

27.0 

- 

Switzerland  . . . 

29.4 

28.3 

28.1 

28.5 

Ireland 

24.9 

23.1 

22.4 

23.0 

France 

24.6 

22.6 

22.1 

- 

The  above  table  shows  wide  differences  in  birth-rates, 
from  Hungary  with  44  per  1000  down  to  France  with  24 
per  1000,  In  Russia  the  birth-rate  is  commonly  supposed 
to  be  higher  still,  running  up  to  49  per  1000. 

Influence  of  Climate,  Geographical  Position,  and  Race. 
To  study  such  influences  it  would  be  necessary  to  have 
statistics  of  the  different  parts  of  the  world.  But  in  bar- 
barous or  uncivilized  countries  such  statistics  are  entirely 
lacking  or  very  imperfect.  It  is  generally  supposed  that 
in  warm  climates  births  are  more  frequent  than  in  cold. 
The  women  marry  younger,  the  climate  makes  less  demands 
upon  their  energy,  there  is  greater  impro\ddence  in  regard 
to  the  future ; hence  there  is  a large  number  of  children, 

1 Report  of  Registrar  General,  England,  1893.  (The  rates  are  exclusive 
of  still-born.  Later  figures,  quoted  from  German  reports,  include  still- 
born.) 


BIETHS. 


69 


and  population  is  restrained  only  by  the  correspondingly 
large  number  of  deaths.  In  India  the  birth-rate  is  said  to 
be  nearly  48  per  1000,  greater  than  in  any  country  of 
Europe  except  Russia.^  The  women  marry  at  the  age  of 
fifteen,  and  among  the  higher  and  middle  classes  there  is 
a general  feeling  that  the  paternal  hearth  is  disgraced  by 
the  presence  of  a girl  who  has  arrived  at  womanhood 
unmarried.  Notwithstanding  the  enormous  birth-rate, 
population  grows  but  slowly  on  account  of  the  abnormal 
death-rate,  which,  even  if  we  omit  the  frequent  occurrence 
of  famine  and  epidemic  disease,  reaches  on  an  average  41 
per  mille.  What  is  true  of  India  would  probably  be  true 
of  other  hot  countries  inhabited  by  uncivilized  races. 

If  we  look  at  the  above  table  for  Europe,  minor  vari- 
ations of  climate  seem  to  have  no  effect.  Countries  distant 
from  each  other,  such  as  Norway  and  Belgium,  have  about 
the  same  rate ; while  adjacent  countries,  like  Italy  and 
France,  or  Germany  and  France,  have  widely  different 
rates.  Some  authors  have  discovered  a rough  geographical 
arrangement,  namely,  that  the  highest  rate  is  in  the  east 
of  Europe  (Russia  and  Hungary) ; a lower  rate  in  Central 
Europe  (Austria,  Prussia,  Germany,  and  Italy)  ; a still 
lower  rate  in  Northern  Europe  (Great  Britain,  Norway,  and 
Sweden).  Ireland  and  France  seem  to  be  exceptions.  It 
is  evident,  however,  that  this  arrangement  is  only  a rough 
one,  and  general  social  condition  probably  has  more  influ- 
ence than  either  climate  or  geographical  position. 

The  influence  of  race  also  seems  to  be  covered  by  that 
of  general  social  condition.  Uncivilized  nations  have  large 
numbers  of  children.  The  negroes  in  the  United  States 
have  a larger  birth-rate  than  the  whites,  this  being  due  to 
their  low  social  condition  and  general  improvidence. ^ The 

1 Census  of  India,  1891,  p.  61. 

2 The  birth-rate  as  calculated  hy  the  Census  of  1890  was  for  the  whole 
population  26.68 ; for  whites,  26.35  ; for  coloured,  29.07 ; for  whites, 
with  both  parents  native,  28.58  ; with  both  parents  foreign,  38.29.  The 


70 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


same  remark  may  be  made  in  regard  to  distinctions  of 
race  in  Europe.  The  enormous  birth-rate  in  Russia  and 
the  eastern  provinces  of  Prussia  would  seem  to  indicate 
great  fertility  in  the  Slavonic  race.  But  this  again  is 
probably  social  condition  rather  than  race.  We  can  trace 
no  distinction  between  the  Germanic  or  Teutonic  and  the 
Romance  or  Latin  races.  Among  the  Teutons,  Germany 
is  high,  Scandinavia  and  England  low.  Among  the  Latins, 
Italy  is  high  and  South  France  is  low. 

Density  of  Population  and  Birth-rate.  It  has  often 
been  supposed  that  the  density  of  population  had  an  influ- 
ence upon  the  birth-rate.  But  in  the  table  given  above  it 
is  impossible  to  trace  any  connection  between  average  den- 
sity and  the  number  of  births.  Belgium  and  Saxony,  both 
of  which  are  very  densely  populated,  have  very  different 
birth-rates,  viz.,  Belgium  29.6  and  Saxony  43.1  in  1891. 
So  England  and  Scotland  have  very  nearly  the  same  birth- 
rate, although  the  density  of  population  differs.  Even 
if  Ave  take  the  smaller  divisions  of  the  same  country,  it  is 
diflicult  to  trace  any  connection  between  density  and  birth- 
rate. For  the  provinces  of  Prussia,  taking  the  average 
birth-rate  for  the  period  1841-85,  a period  sufficiently  long 
to  obliterate  all  exceptional  causes,  we  reach  contradictory 
results.  The  eastern  provinces,  with  the  exception  of 
Silesia,  have  the  least  density  of  population  and  the  highest 
birth-rate.  They  are  agricultural.  But  Silesia,  Saxony, 
and  Rhineland,  which  also  have  high  birth-rates,  have 
much  more  than  the  average  density  of  population,  owing 
to  their  mining  and  industrial  occupations.  It  seems  clear, 
therefore,  that  mere  density  of  population  does  not  control 
the  birth-rate,  but  that  it  is  subject  to  social  influences. 

In  England  the  registration  comities  in  which  the  birth- 
rates were  highest  (1891)  are  the  mining  and  industrial 

last  two  figures  were  only  for  limited  areas.  These  rates  are  probably 
too  low  by  from  20  to  30  per  cent,  owing  to  deficiencies  in  the  return  of 
infants  “ bom  and  died  ” during  the  year. 


BIRTHS. 


71 


counties,  such  as  Derbyshire,  33.0;  Lancashire,  33.3; 
Northumberland,  34.1;  South  Wales,  35.1;  Staffordshire, 
36.3;  Monmouthshire,  36.4;  and  Durham,  38.2.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  lowest  rates,  in  no  case  exceeding  27.5, 
were  in  the  agricultural  counties,  such  as  Surrey,  Sussex, 
Hertfordshire,  Huntingdonshire,  Dorsetshire,  Devonshire, 
Herefordshire,  Shropshire,  Rutlandshire,  Westmoreland, 
and  North  Wales. 

Birth-rate  in  Oity  and  Country.  In  England,  where 
the  urban  districts  consist  very  generally  of  industrial  and 
mining  towns,  there  is  commonly  a higher  birth-rate  in 
the  cities  than  in  the  country.  For  other  countries  the 
evidence  is  conflicting. 

For  the  47  cities  of  Germany  of  50,000  inhabitants  and 
over,  the  birth-rate  seems  to  be  less  than  that  for  all  Ger- 
many. The  figures  for  the  last  few  years  are  as  follows  : ^ 


1885. 

1886. 

188T. 

1888. 

1889. 

1890. 

Germany . . 

. 38.5 

38.5 

38.4 

38.1 

37.9 

36.9 

Cities  . . . 

. 35.8 

35.6 

35.4 

35.0 

35.7 

35.2 

If  we  take  another  classification,  however,  namely,  the 
25  large  cities  having  100,000  and  over,  we  shall  get  some- 
what different  results.  Arranged  by  periods,  the  birth- 
rate in  these  large  cities  was  as  follows  : ^ 


1861-64. 

1864-67. 

1867-71. 

1871-75. 

1875-80. 

1880-85. 

All  cities  . . 

. 36.9 

38.7 

38.3 

41.9 

42.1 

37.4 

Chemnitz 

. 47.5 

50.4 

- 

51.8 

49.3 

45.3 

Prankfort 

. 21.0 

25.0 

29.0 

30.6 

34.3 

29.6 

This  last  table  shows  that  the  birth-rate  in  cities 
varies  from  time  to  time  and  from  city  to  city.  For 
instance,  in  all  cities  there  was  an  enormous  fall  from  the 
period  1875—80  to  the  period  1880-85,  which  is  not  easily 
accounted  for.  There  had  been  a corresponding  rise  from 
the  period  1867—71  to  1871-75,  but  that  was  partly  expli- 

1 Stat.  JahrlDuch  deutscher  Stadte,  II.,  p.  22. 

2 Allg.  Stat.  Arcldv,  I.,  p.  162. 


72 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


cable  by  the  influence  of  war  upon  the  first  period.  The 
two  cities  shown  in  the  table  represent  two  extremes,  and 
we  see  in  some  cases  that  the  birth-rate  in  Chemnitz  is 
twice  that  of  Frankfort.  In  both  cities  we  find  the  same 
rapid  fall  from  1875-80  to  1880-85. 

It  is  pretty  plain  from  this  evidence  that  it  is  not  city 
life  in  itself  which  influences  the  birth-rate,  since  there 
are  so  many  variations  and  in  such  different  directions. 
The  number  of  births  is  influenced  by  the  age  composition 
of  the  population,  especially  by  the  number  of  women  of 
child-bearing  age,  the  number  of  such  women  actually 
married,  and  the  number  of  new  marriages.  The  rapid 
growth  of  cities  on  account  of  immigration  allows  very 
great  fluctuations  from  time  to  time  in  these  elements  of 
population.  For  instance,  in  the  last  table  the  great 
increase  in  the  birth-rate  from  1867  to  1875  was  partly 
due  to  the  great  industrial  development,  which  attracted 
a large  number  of  marriageable  men  and  women  to  the 
cities.  As  that  industrial  development  slackened  and  immi- 
gration fell  off,  the  number  of  births  naturally  decreased, 
because  there  was  a less  number  of  women  of  marriage- 
able age  or  newly  married,  and  decreased  very  much, 
proportionately,  because  population  was  now  increased 
by  the  large  number  of  children  born  dmlng  the  previous 
decade.  Such  movements  might  naturally  affect  different 
cities  in  varying  degree,  as  they  shared  or  not  in  the  in- 
dustrial development.  That  would  probably  explain  the 
difference  between  two  such  cities  as  Chemnitz  and  Frank- 
fort. Minor  differences  may  sometimes  be  noted.  As, 
for  instance,  in  some  cities  the  working  population  and  the 
young  married  people  of  the  middle  classes  are  accustomed 
to  live  in  the  suburbs,  while  doing  business  in  the  city. 
If,  now,  these  suburbs  happen  to  lie  outside  the  municipal 
line,  the  city  birth-rate  is  apt  to  be  low,  while  it  would  be 
high  if  they  were  included.^  The  effect  of  city  life  on 
1 Briickner,  op.  cit.  Allg.  Stat.  Arctiiv,  I. 


BIETHS. 


73 


births  cannot  be  determined  by  this  crude  birth-rate.  It 
might  be  studied  by  following  out  the  births  among  the  city 
born  and  bred,  as  compared  with  the  country  immigrants. 
Such  statistics  are  not  yet  available  to  any  great  extent. 

Births  according  to  Religious  Confession.,  Social  Position, 
and  Occupation  of  Parents.  It  might  seem  that  great 
social  influences  would  be  expressed  under  the  above 
titles.  But  if  there  be  such  influences  it  is  difficult  to 
distinguish  them.  The  great  religious  confessions  show 
no  differences.  We  have  about  the  same  birth-rate  in  a 
Catholic  country  like  Italy,  as  in  a Protestant  country  like 
Prussia.  Where  both  religions  are  represented  in  the 
same  country,  as  in  Germany,  no  difference  is  visible. 
Social  position  has  some  influence,  but  it  is  difficult  to 
follow  out  on  account  of  the  difficulty  of  classification. 
Occupations  would  have  an  effect  principally  by  affecting 
the  economic  position  of  the  parents. 

Influence  of  War  on  the  Birth-rate.  If  we  follow  the 
birth-rate  of  a country  by  single  years  we  can  generally 
detect  the  influence  of  great  public  events  like  a war  by 
a depression  in  the  rate  during  the  war  period,  followed 
by  an  unusual  rise  during  the  year  or  two  following.  Von 
Mayr  gives  the  following  example  of  the  influence  of  the 
war  of  1870-71  in  Bavaria.^  Before  the  war,  under  nor- 
mal relations,  the  number  of  births  was  about  16,000  per 
month.  During  the  war  it  sank  about  2000  per  month. 
Immediately  on  the  cessation  of  hostilities  it  rose  to  its 
former  number,  while  the  actual  return  of  the  troops 
brought  an  increase  of  2000  per  month.  The  maximum 
was  reached  in  March  of  1872,  when  it  was  18,450.  The 

1 Figures  for  births  are  thrown  back  nine  months,  so  as  to  show  time  of 
conception.  Von  Mayr  believes  that  the  war  had  a depressing  influence 
apart  from  the  mere  absence  of  the  men,  as  shown  in  the  fact  that  immedi- 
ately upon  the  cessation  of  hostilities  the  number  recovered,  although  it 
was  several  months  before  the  return  of  the  troops.  This  and  subsequent 
references  are  to  Von  Mayr’s  earlier  book,  Die  Gesetzmassigkeit  im 
Gesellschaftsleben. 


74 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


war  of  1866  seems  to  have  passed  over  Germany  without 
any  great  influence,  the  birth-rate  in  1865  being  39.2 ; in 
1866,  39.4;  in  1867,  38.3;  in  1868,  38.4.  On  the  other 
hand,  while  the  birth-rate  in  1870  was  40.1,  in  1871  it  was 
only  35.9;  in  1872  it  recovered  to  41.1,  and  remained 
above  41  down  to  1878. 

Births  and  the  Price  of  Food.  The  economic  condition  of 
the  population  has  an  influence  upon  the  number  of  births 
by  increasing  or  decreasing  the  number  of  marriages,  and 
even  perhaps  directly.  In  former  years  when  the  popula- 
tion was  mainly  dependent  upon  the  local  supply  of  grain, 
economic  prosperity  or  adversity  was  expressed  by  a low 
or  a high  price  of  the  grain  commonly  used  for  food.  It 
was  then  found  that  if  we  compared  the  number  of  births, 
marriages,  and  deaths  with  the  price  of  food,  the  first  two 
varied  inversely,  and  the  third  directly  with  the  price  of 
grain.  This  connection  is  seen  most  clearly  in  marriages, 
but  may  be  traced  also  in  births  if  we  take  pains  to 
place  the  births  somewhat  later  than  the  variations  in 
prices.  Von  Mayr  has  shown  by  means  of  a diagram  that 
during  the  25  years  from  1835  to  1860  any  violent  rise  in 
the  price  of  rye  in  Bavaria,  such  as  occurred  in  1845  and 
again  in  1853,  was  followed  by  a fall  in  the  number  of 
births.  After  1860  the  relation  is  obscured,  and,  with  a 
single  interruption,  births  seem  to  go  on  utterly  regardless 
of  the  price  of  food.  There  is  a local  explanation  for  this, 
inasmuch  as  the  Bavarian  marriage  laws,  which  had  been 
very  severe,  were  relaxed  in  1862  and  entirely  abolished  in 
1868.  This  encouraged  marriage,  and  doubtless  affected 
births.  Even  before  1860  the  fluctuations  in  the  price  of 
food  were  much  more  violent  than  the  corresponding  fluc- 
tuations in  the  number  of  births,  showing  that  the  price 
of  food  was  only  one  factor  in  the  economic  prosperity  of 
the  community.  Since  1860,  owing  to  the  industrial  and 
commercial  development  of  Germany,  the  price  of  food  has 
ceased  to  be  the  main  factor  in  the  economic  life  of  the 


BIETHS. 


75 


country.  This  is  still  more  true  of  England,  so  that  there 
the  connection  between  the  price  of  food  and  births  has 
disappeared,  and  a better  index  of  economic  prosperity  has 
been  found  in  the  amount  of  British  exports.  But  eco- 
nomic prosperity  and  adversity  have  a much  more  direct  in- 
fluence on  marriages  and  deaths  than  on  births,  so  that  it 
will  be  better  to  defer  further  treatment  of  the  subject  to 
the  next  two  chapters. 

Births  according  to  Seasons.  If  we  arrange  the  births 
of  the  year  according  to  months,  we  shall  find  great  fluc- 
tuations. The  largest  number  almost  always  falls  in  the 
month  of  February, ^ the  minimum  number  in  the  month 
of  June  or  July,  while  there  is  a second  increase  towards 
the  month  of  September  or  October. ^ From  a great  num- 
ber of  observations  this  general  tendency  seems  to  be  well 
established,  although  there  are  occasional  variations  in 
different  countries.^  It  is  possible  that  we  have  to  do 
here  with  some  sort  of  physical  law,  but  this  physical  law 
is  very  much  obscured  by  social  influences.  One  great 
social  influence  is  the  time  of  marriage.  Marriages  tend 
to  accumulate  about  the  social  festivities  of  Christmas 
time,^  and,  in  Catholic  countries  especially,  in  the  period 
just  before  Lent. 

1 Corresponding  to  conceptions  in  May  and  June.  Some  statisticians  are 
disposed  to  look  upon  this  as  pointing  to  a natural  “pairing  time  ” among 
human  beings  in  the  spring,  as  among  some  birds  and  animals.  As  the 
number  of  births  is  influenced  largely  by  first  marriages,  and  the  time  of 
marriage  is  largely  governed  by  social  conditions,  the  influence  is  ob- 
scured. 

2 Corresponding  to  conceptions  in  December. 

® Observations  tend  to  show  the  largest  number  of  conceptions  in 
Sweden  falling  in  June,  in  Holland  and  France  in  May-June,  in  Spain, 
Austria,  and  Italy  in  May,  in  Greece  in  April.  That  is,  the  farther  South, 
the  earlier  the  spring  and  the  earlier  the  conceptions. 

^ In  agricultural  districts  this  concentration  is  most  marked,  due  per- 
haps to  the  leisure  following  the  labours  of  the  autumn.  In  cities  the  births 
are  more  evenly  distributed,  showing  that  artificial  life  has  overcome  the 
influence  of  seasons  and  particular  occupations. 


76 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


Such  being  the  causes  of  the  varying  birth-rate  so  far  as 
we  can  trace  them,  we  now  turn  to  certain  facts  in  regard 
to  the  children  born  which  are  the  subject  of  statistical 
investigation.  These  are  (1)  the  number  of  hoys  com- 
pared with  the  number  of  girls ; (2)  the  number  of  still- 
born ; (3)  the  number  at  a birth  ; and  (4)  the  number  of 
illegitimate  births. 

Sex  at  Birth.  This  is  the  establishment  of  a purely 
physical  law  over  which  we  have  no  control,  and  whose 
reason  we  do  not  understand.  It  is  an  excellent  illustra- 
tion of  the  value  of  the  statistical  method  in  establishing  a 
mere  fact,  which  can  be  established  in  no  other  way.  By 
personal  observation  of  particular  families,  we  can  get  at 
no  rule  in  regard  to  the  number  of  boys  and  girls.  The 
number  seems  entirely  arbitrary.  Sometimes  they  are  all 
boys,  sometimes  all  girls,  more  frequently  both  boys  and 
girls.  Reasoning,  however,  from  general  observation,  one 
would  probably  say  that  the  numbers  would  in  the  long  run 
be  about  equal  ; there  might  be  more  boys  born  this  year, 
and  more  girls  the  next,  but  the  numbers  would  tend  to 
counterbalance  each  other.  Statistical  observation  shows 
us  a constant  relation,  but  this  relation  is  not  one  of  equal- 
ity, but  of  a constant  excess  of  boys.  This  excess  of  male 
births  over  female  varies  from  country  to  country,  as  is 
shown  in  the  following  table  : ^ 

Bots  boek  to  1000  Girls  born. 


188T-91.  1887-91. 

Italy 1058  Scotland 1055 

Austria 1058  Ireland 1055 

France  .....  1046  England  and  Wales  . 1036 

Switzerland  ....  1045  Massachusetts  . . . 1046 

German  Empire  . . 1052  Connecticut ....  1072 

Holland 1056  Rhode  Island  . ■ . 1049 

Belgium 1045 


This  table  shows  a constant  excess  of  boys,  but  there 
are  considerable  variations  from  country  to  country.  In 
1 Bulletin  de  I’Institut  international  de  Statistique,  VII.,  Liv.  II.,  p.  19. 


BIRTHS. 


77 


England  the  proportion  is  less  than  in  any  other  European 
country,  and  is  tending  to  become  still  smaller.  In  Germany 
we  find  great  variations  in  the  states  and  provinces.  In 
1891,  while  for  all  Germany  there  were  (including  still- 
born) 1062  boys  to  1000  girls  born,  in  Baden  there  were 
only  1052,  in  Pomerania  only  1044,  and  in  Bremen  only 
990.  On  the  other  hand,  the  proportion  ran  up  in  Posen 
to  1073,  in  Schleswig-Holstein  to  1074,  in  Westphalia  to 
1073,  and  in  Mecklenburg  and  Brunswick  to  1098. 

The  reason  for  this  predominance  of  male  births  over 
female  has  never  been  determined.  The  theory  most 
heard  of  is  Sadler’s,  that  the  age  of  the  parents  deter- 
mines the  sex  in  the  way  that  more  boys  are  born  in 
proportion  as  the  father  is  older.  This,  of  course,  corre- 
sponds to  the  fact  that  the  fathers  are  as  a rule  older  than 
the  mothers ; but  the  theory  is  purely  hypothetical,  and 
has  never  been  supported  by  any  exact  statistical  proof. 
Statisticians  have  sought  in  various  directions  to  discover 
whether  social  influences  have  any  effect.  Levasseur  has 
shown  that  the  proportion  of  boys  to  girls  is  less  in  cities 
than  in  the  country,  but  the  bearing  of  this  fact  is  not  yet 
apparent.  It  is  found,  too,  that  among  illegitimate  children 
the  excess  of  boys  is  less  than  among  legitimate,  and  this 
has  led  to  various  theories  in  regard  to  the  desire  of 
the  mother  having  a psychological  influence  upon  the  sex 
of  the  child.  1 

Among  the  still-born  the  excess  of  boys  over  girls  is 
very  much  greater  than  among  the  living-born.  From 
1887  to  1891  the  proportion  was  in  France  1422,  in 

1 Levasseur  argues  that  parents  generally  desire  sons.  When  that  de- 
sire is  satisfied  by  the  first  or  second  birth,  they  cease  to  have  children, 
or  are  indifferent  as  to  the  sex  of  the  following  ones.  Levasseur,  Popula- 
tion fran^aise,  II.,  p.  50.  Another  argument  is  that  most  women  desire 
sons,  and  hence  the  greater  number  of  boys  born.  Among  mothers  of 
illegitimates  the  feeling  of  shame  and  despair  would  render  the  mother 
indifferent.  See  for  other  theories.  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  Article, 
“Sex,”  and  Diising,  Das  Geschlechtverhaltniss  im  Konigreich  Preussen. 


78 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


Sweden  1350,  in  Italy  1311,  in  Germany  1283,  in  Austria 
1321,  in  Massachusetts  1461,  in  Connecticut  1451,  in 
Rhode  Island  1418  to  1000.^  This  excess  is  probably 
due  to  a physiological  cause. 

The  Living  and  the  Still-horn.  A certain  number  of 
children  do  not  survive  the  dangers  of  the  act  of  birth, — 
the  still-born.  The  number  varies  from  country  to  country, 
as  one  would  naturally  expect,  owing  to  differences  in 
medical  care  and  economic  condition.  It  is  probable  that 
in  Eui’ope  between  three  and  four  per  cent  of  all  the 
births  are  still-born.  The  proportion  to  100  births  (1887- 
91 ) is  as  follows  : ^ 


Sweden  . . 

2.62 

France . . . 

4.60 

Italy  . . . . 

3.67 

Norway  . . 

2.75 

Switzerland  . 

3.80 

Massachusetts 

3.41 

Denmark  . . 

2.72 

Germany  . . 

3.53 

Connecticut  . 

3.85 

Holland  . . 

4.76 

Austria  . . 

2.85 

Ehode  Island 

3.52 

Belgium  . . 

4.56 

Hungary  . . 

2.00 

There  is  great  uncertainty  in  these  statistics,  owing  to 
the  natural  difficulty  of  distinguishing  in  the  returns 
between  infants  still-born  and  those  dying  soon  after 
birth.  In  Catholic  countries  there  is  a great  desire  to 
have  the  child  live  until  it  can  be  baptized,  and  in  many 
communities  a still-born  child  is  looked  upon  as  a greater 
misfortune  than  one  dying  soon  after  birth.  It  often 
happens,  therefore,  that  a child  is  declared  to  have  been 
born  living  when  it  was  really  born  dead.  Still  further, 
in  the  French  law  and  in  the  German  law  based  on  the 
Code  Napoleon,  it  is  provided  that  a child  must  be  regis- 
tered within  three  days  after  birth.  It  often  happens 
that  a child  who  has  died  during  those  three  days  is 
registered  as  a still-born.  The  statistics,  therefore,  are 
so  imperfect  that  it  is  impossible  to  compare  one  country 
with  another.  For  instance,  in  the  Palatinate,  a Protestant 
country  with  the  French  law,  the  number  of  stih-born 

1 Bulletin  de  I’Institut,  cited  above. 

* Ibid.,  p.  25. 


BIETHS. 


79 


from  1835  to  1860  was  4.8  per  cent  of  the  total  number  of 
births,  while  in  Lower  Bavaria,  a Catholic  country  with 
German  law,  the  number  was  only  1.7  per  cent.  The 
large  number  in  France  is  probably  due  to  the  French 
law. 

The  number  of  still-born  has  been  studied  in  various 
directions.  The  proportion  among  illegitimates  is  always 
greater  than  among  legitimates,  owing  to  the  large  num- 
ber of  foundlings. 

The  still-born  are  always  more  numerous  in  the  city 
than  in  the  country,  owing,  however,  to  the  fact  that 
the  number  of  illegitimates  is  greater  in  the  city. 

In  Prussia  they  have  studied  the  still-born  in  connection 
with  the  social  and  economic  position  of  the  parents. 
If  we  take  the  mothers  according  to  religious  confession, 
we  shall  find  the  percentage  among  Evangelical  mothers 
to  be  4.26  ; Catholic  mothers,  3.84;  and  Jewish  mothers, 
3.35.  The  low  percentage  among  the  Jews  is  probably 
due  to  their  better  economic  condition. 

If  we  take  the  social  position  of  the  parents,  we  natu- 
rally find  a very  heavy  percentage  among  the  inmates 
of  hospitals  and  asylums  and  among  beggars.  We  find 
the  proportion  to  be  greater  than  the  average  among 
servants  and  day  labourers,  to  be  less  than  the  average 
among  the  officials  and  the  well-to-do.  The  figures  for 
different  occupations  show  great  variations,  due  principally 
in  all  probability  to  economic  condition.^ 

The  smallest  number  of  still-born  is  found  among  the 
mothers  from  20  to  25  years  of  age.  It  then  increases 
with  increasing  age,  until  for  women  over  45  it  is  6 and 
7 per  cent.^  The  proportion  of  the  still-born  is  natu- 
rally much  greater  among  the  first  births  than  among 
the  later.  It  is  much  heavier  in  the  case  of  twins  than 

1 Statistisches  Handbuch  fiir  den  Preussischen  Staat,  1890,  p.  139. 

2 Statistik  des  Deutschen  Eeichs,  No.  44,  p.  178.  Por  Berlin,  see 
Jahrbuch  fiir  die  Stadt  Berlin,  1880,  1884,  etc. 


80 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


in  the  case  of  single  births.  The  proportion  is  greater  in 
winter  than  in  summer. 

Multiple  Births.  It  is  only  in  a little  more  than  one 
per  cent  of  the  total  number  of  parturitions  that  there  is 
more  than  one  child.  The  latest  statistics  give  the 
following  averages  of  the  number  of  cases  to  100  births 
where  there  were  two  or  more  to  a birth  : ^ 


Sweden  . . 

. 1.45 

Germany  . . 

. 1.24 

Bavaria  . . 

. 1.38 

Denmark  . . 

. 1.34 

Holland  . . 

. 1.30 

Prussia  . . 

. 1.26 

Scotland  . . 

. 1.22 

Norway  . . 

. 1.32 

Saxony  . . 

. 1.20 

Italy  . . . 

. 1.21 

Austria  . . 

. 1.17 

Switzerland  . 

. 1.16 

France . . . 

. 0.99 

Belgium  . . 

. 0.97 

Spain  . . , 

. 0.85 

In  Prussia,  from  1826  to  1880,  there  were  85  cases  of 
quadruplets  and  three  cases  of  five  at  a birth. 

The  number  of  twins  or  more  at  a birth  is  thus  com- 
paratively rare,  so  that  it  is  scarcely  worth  while  to 
follow  out  their  statistics  in  detail.  It  is  a well-known 
fact  that  there  is  a greater  number  of  still-born  than 
in  the  case  of  single  births,  and  the  mortality  increases 
as  the  number  at  a birth  increases.  Westergaard  has 
made  a curious  study  on  the  basis  of  material  gathered 
by  the  National  Life  Insurance  Society  of  London.  The 
investigation  covered  only  337  cases  of  multiple  births, 
of  which  four  were  triplets.  Of  the  total  number  of 
children,  51.5  per  cent  were  boys  and  48.5  per  cent  were 
girls.  In  35  per  cent  both  the  chilcben  w'ere  boys,  in  33 
per  cent  both  were  girls,  in  32  per  cent  they  were  mixed. 
On  the  basis  of  probability,  one-half  of  the  cases  should 
have  been  mixed.  Westergaard  show’s  the  greater 
mortality  among  the  twins,  which  continues  during 
the  first  five  years  of  life.  He  shows  also  that  where 
one  of  twins  dies,  there  is  great  probability  that  the 
other  one  follow^s  ; Avhen  one  of  twins,  lives,  the  proba- 

1 Harald  Westergaard,  Zur  Statistik  der  Mehrgeburten,  Allg.  Stat. 
Arcliiv,  II.,  p.  509.  See  also  Levasseur,  La  Pop.  frau§aise,  II.,  p.  201, 
and  Statistik  des  Deutsclien  Eeichs,  No.  44,  p.  178. 


BIKTHS. 


81 


bility  of  life  for  the  other  is,  indeed,  smaller  than  for 
single  births,  but  is  much  greater  than  in  the  preced- 
ing case. 

Illegitimate  Births.  In  civilized  countries,  where  the 
institution  of  marriage  is  firmly  established,  by  far  the 
greater  number  of  children  are  born  in  wedlock.  There 
still  remains  a certain  percentage,  varying  from  as  low  as 
3 to  as  high  as  14,  of  children  born  out  of  wedlock. 
This  figure  is  often  taken  as  an  index  of  the  morality 
of  a community.  This,  however,  is  not  always  justi- 
fiable, because  the  number  is  often  indicative  of  the 
influence  of  special  laws  and  customs  rather  than  of  vice 
or  dissipation.  A classical  example  of  this  is  Bavaria. 
In  former  times,  owing  to  the  severe  marriage  laws  which 
forbade  marriage  to  all  except  those  who  possessed  prop- 
erty or  who  were  members  of  a guild,  the  number  of  ille- 
gitimate births  was  simply  enormous.  Even  with  the 
modification  of  those  laws  the  percentage  of  illegitimate 
births  during  1860-68  was  22.2.  With  the  repeal  the 
proportion  sank  at  once  to  17.9  per  cent,  and  continued  to 
sink  each  year  until  1875,  when  it  was  12.6  per  cent.  The 
explanation,  of  course,  is  that  many  couples  who  had  lived 
together  without  being  legally  married  were  now  permitted 
to  marry.  The  customs,  however,  engendered  by  this  con- 
dition of  things  have  continued,  so  that  even  to  the  present 
day  the  number  of  illegitimate  births  in  Bavaria  is  very 
large.  In  other  countries,  as  in  Scotland,  and  in  the 
eastern  provinces  of  Prussia,  public  opinion  is  disposed 
to  regard  a birth  before  marriage  lightly,  if  the  child  be 
legitimized  by  subsequent  marriage.  In  Rhenish  Prussia 
and  in  England,  on  the  other  hand,  such  a birth  would  be 
looked  upon  as  a disgrace  and  a hindrance  to  marriage. 
A large  number  of  illegitimate  births  would  naturally 
follow  in  the  first  case,  but  would  not  necessarily  show  a 
lower  state  of  public  morality  than  a small  number  in  the 
second.  Poor-law  relief  and  laws  in  regard  to  the  respon- 

G 


82 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


sibility  of  the  father  also  affect  the  number  of  illegitimate 
births. 

Under  these  circumstances  the  niunber  of  illegitimate 
births  varies  greatly  in  different  countries,  and  for  fair 
comparison  it  is  necessary  to  study  carefully  the  laws  and 
customs  of  each.  The  most  common  way  of  calculating 
the  number  of  illegitimates  is  to  give  the  percentage  of 
the  total  number  of  births.  The  largest  numbers  are  in 
Bavaria,  14.01  per  cent ; Austria,  14.6  per  cent;  and  Sax- 
ony, 12.45  per  cent.  Other  Germanic  countries  like  Den- 
mark, 9.4  per  cent;  Sweden,  10.2  per  cent;  Scotland,  7.9 
per  cent ; and  Prussia,  7.8  per  cent ; together  with  France, 
8.4  ; Italy,  7.3  ; Belgium,  8.7  ; also  show  a large  percentage. 
England,  4.5;  Holland,  3.2;  and  Ireland,  2.7;  show  a smaller 
percentage.^  The  number  of  illegitimates  is  said  to  be 
increasing  in  Italy,  France,  Austria,  Hungary,  Belgium, 
Roumania,  Servia,  and  Massachusetts  ; to  be  decreasing  in 
England,  Scotland,  Holland,  Norway,  and  Denmark.  ^ 

The  number  of  illegitimate  births  varies  in  a most  ex- 
traordinary way  in  different  parts  of  the  same  country. 
Thus,  in  England  the  proportion  varies  (average  of  10 
years  1881-90)  from  8.2  per  cent  in  Shropshire,  7.6  per 
cent  in  Cumberland,  7.2  per  cent  in  Norfolk,  7.6  per  cent 
in  Herefordshire,  and  7 per  cent  in  Westmoreland  and 
North  Wales,  down  to  4.1  per  cent  in  Surrey,  3.4  per  cent 
in  Middlesex,  and  3.3  per  cent  in  Essex.^  These  propor- 
tions remain  very  constant  from  year  to  year.  The  Reg- 
istrar General  has  pointed  out  that  England  and  Wales 
can  be  rouglily  divided  into  three  zones : a south  zone, 
with  an  illegitimate  rate  below  the  general  average  ; a 
midland  zone,  with  illegitimacy  somewhat  above  the 
average ; and  a northern  zone,  with  an  excessively  high 
rate  of  illegitimacy. 

1 Figures  are  for  1887-91,  from  Bulletin  de  I’Inst.,  etc.,  Vol.  V D. 

2 Ibid. 

3 Report  Registrar  General,  1891.  See  also,  Leffingwell,  Illegitimacy. 


BIKTHS. 


83 


In  Prussia  we  find  the  same  contrasts  between  different 
provinces  as  between  the  different  counties  of  England. 
Pomerania  and  Silesia  have  an  extraordinary  number  of 
illegitimate  births,  10.48  and  10.15  per  cent,  although  one 
is  agricultural  and  the  other  is  mining  and  manufacturing. 
On  the  other  hand,  Saxony  and  the  Rhineland,  although 
both  are  industrial  regions,  have  very  different  rates  of 
illegitimacy,  viz.,  9.36  and  3.76  per  cent.  Agricultural 
or  industrial  life  does  not  seem  to  be  a determining 
influence. 

The  number  of  illegitimates  is  particularly  large  in 
cities.  For  France,  Levasseur  gives  the  following  num- 
bers per  100  births  for  1879-83  : ^ 


Department  of  the  Seine 24.1 

Urban  population  (France) 10.1 

Eural  population  (France) 4.2 

Average  for  France 7.4 


In  Germany,  in  1890,  the  number  of  Illegitimate  births 
in  the  cities  was  13.2  per  cent,  while  in  the  country  it  was 
only  9.1  per  cent.^  The  large  number  of  illegitimates  in 
cities  is  due  partly  to  the  presence  of  garrisons  and  partly 
to  the  fact  that  the  city  is  the  refuge  for  the  vicious  and 
thoughtless  of  both  sexes. 

In  Prussia  they  have  made  special  investigations  in 
regard  to  the  religious  confession  of  the  mothers  of 
illegitimate  children,  with  the  following  result  (average 
1875-81): 3 

Among  Evangelical  mothers  the  number  of  illegitimate 

children  was 8.85  per  cent 

Among  Catholic  mothers  the  number  of  illegitimate  chil- 
dren was 6.64  per  cent 

Among  Jewish  mothers  the  number  of  illegitimate  children 

■was 2.73  per  cent 

1 La  Pop.  fran§aise,  II. , p.  34. 

2 Jahrbuch  der  deutschen  Stadte,  1892. 

3 Zeitschrift  des  Preuss.  Bureaus,  1882,  p.  232. 


84 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


In  Ireland  the  percentage  of  illegitimate  births  (1881- 
90)  was  greatest  in  Ulster,  viz.,  4.3,  and  least  for  Con- 
naught, viz.,  0.8.  The  percentage  for  all  Ireland  was  2.7 
against  2.4  for  the  preceding  decade. 

The  Prussian  statistics  show  that  illegitimate  children 
are  more  frequent  among  divorced  women  than  among 
the  widowed,  although  among  the  latter  three-fourths 
of  the  children  are  illegitimate.  It  is  difficult  to  follow 
out  exactly  the  occupation  of  the  mothers  of  illegitimate 
children,  but  in  Prussia  the  highest  illegitimate  fecrmdity 
seemed  to  be  among  female  agricultural  servants  ; then 
came  domestic  servants,  factory-hands,  etc.  A very  low 
rate  of  illegitimate  bu-ths  is  shown  among  women  living 
with  their  parents,  and  women  employed  in  hospitals, 
churches,  and  public  offices.^ 

Scientific  Tests. 

Method  of  Observation.  The  first  question  that  arises  in 
statistics  of  births  is  whether  we  get  aU  of  the  births. 
For  it  is  evident  that  if  we  have  omissions,  our  compari- 
sons between  different  coxmtries  and  for  different  periods 
in  the  same  country  are  vitiated.  In  our  observations  in 
regard  to  the  number  of  the  people,  their  distribution  by 
race,  sex,  age,  etc.,  a single  census  at  intervals  of  five  or 
ten  years  is  sufficient  to  give  us  the  necessary  data.  But 
for  the  statistics  of  births,  deaths,  and  marriages  a census 
is  inadequate.  It  is  utterly  impossible  to  recover  at  the 
end  of  such  a period  all  the  births  or  deaths  for  the  pre- 
ceding five  or  ten  years.  It  is  even  impossible  (as  shown 
by  experience  in  the  United  States)  to  go  back  a single 
year  and  get  a satisfactory  enumeration  for  the  census 
year.  For  vital  statistics  it  is  necessary  to  have  immedi- 
ate and  continuous  registration.  When  the  birth,  death, 
or  marriage  occurs  it  should  at  once  be  registered.  In 
the  old  days  when  baptisms,  marriages,  and  burials  were 
1 Zeitschrift  des  Preuss.  Bureaus,  1889,  p.  195. 


BIRTHS. 


85 


all  church  offices,  the  church  registers  furnished  a founda- 
tion for  vital  statistics.  In  modern  times  the  duty  of 
collecting  such  statistics  is  exercised  by  the  state.  In 
England  the  office  of  Registrar  General  was  established 
in  1837.  Down  to  1876  the  registration  of  births  was 
voluntary,  and  Dr.  Farr  estimates  that  the  proportion 
of  unregistered  births  was  about  5 per  cent.  By  the  Act 
of  1874  registration  was  made  compulsory,  and  the  birth- 
rate for  1876  reached  36.6  per  1000,  the  highest  on  record, 
being  1.2  per  1000  higher  than  the  average  for  the  ten  pre- 
vious years. ^ It  is  probable  that  there  are  still  imperfec- 
tions in  registration  due  either  to  negligenee,  or  to  the 
shame  of  illegitimacy,  or  in  order  to  avoid  compulsory 
vaccination,  or  among  migratory  people  such  as  gypsies. 
Notwithstanding  these,  the  registration  in  England  reaches 
probably  within  a very  small  fraction  of  the  true  number 
of  births.  Conditions  in  the  United  States  are  quite 
different,  as  we  have  just  seen.  The  above  illustration  of 
England  shows  how  impossible  it  must  be  to  expeet  good 
birth  statistics  in  barbarous  or  uncivilized  eountries. 

Basis  for  Comparison.  In  all  the  statistics  of  births 
we  are  met  with  the  difficulty  of  a proper  basis  for  com- 
parison. If  the  age  distribution  were  the  same  for  the 
population  of  all  countries,  we  might  then  compare  the 
number  of  births  with  the  total  population  and  we  should 
have  a fair  standard.  But  if  in  any  population  the 
number  of  adults,  especially  of  women  from  20  to  40 
years  of  age,  be  large,  we  naturally  expeet  a large  birth- 
rate ; while  if  sueh  proportion  be  small,  we  expect  a low 
birth-rate.  Thus  in  the  United  States,  in  1880,  46.4  per 
cent  of  the  population  were  between  the  ages  20  to  60, 
while  in  France  (1886)  52.3  per  cent  were  of  that  age. 
London  has  a larger  birth-rate  than  the  county  of  Here- 
ford, but  this  is  partly  explained  by  the  fact  that  in 
London  36.3  per  cent  of  the  population  are  between  the 
1 Tarr,  Vital  Statistics,  p.  87.  Newsholme,  Vital  Statistics,  p.  16. 


86 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


ages  20  to  40,  while  in  Hereford  the  percentage  is  only 
28.4.  The  same  difficulty  meets  us  when  we  study  the 
statistics  of  illegitimacy. 

On  account  of  these  uncertainties  it  has  been  proposed 
to  take  as  basis  for  comparison,  not  the  whole  population, 
but  the  women  of  child-bearing  age,  say  from  15  to  45, 
15  to  50,  or  15  to  55.  Dr.  Farr  carried  out  such  calcula- 
tions in  many  of  his  annual  reports,  going  back  as  far  as 
1851.  In  the  last-mentioned  report  he  makes  the  follow- 
ing observations  : “The  mothers  of  all  the  children  that 
are  born  in  the  country  are  between  the  ages  of  15  and 
55  ; and  the  greater  part  of  them  are  between  the  ages  of 
20  and  40.  The  proportion  of  children  to  1000  married 
women  under  the  age  of  55  ranges  between  197.3  in 
Herefordshire  and  255.6  in  Durham;  the  proportion  of 
children  to  1000  unmarried  women  (age  15-55)  ranges 
between  11.2  in  Devon  and  28.3  in  Norfolk.”  Later  on  he 
says  : “ For  all  England  1000  married  women  of  the  age 
15  to  55  have  220  children  annually,  1000  unmarried 
women  have  16  children  annually,  or  one  in  14  of  them 
is  exposed  to  the  same  chance  of  bearing  children  as 
married  women.” 

This  method  would  seem  to  give  us  a satisfactory  basis 
for  comparison  of  birth-rates.  The  difficulty  with  its  use 
is  that  we  must  know  the  number  of  married  and  unmar- 
ried women  between  15  and  55  years  of  age.  For  census 
years  it  would  he  easy  to  obtain  this  number,  but  for 
intermediate  years  it  would  have  to  be  calculated  on  the 
supposition  that  the  proportion  of  married  and  unmarried 
women  of  that  age  remamed  the  same  from  census  to 
census.  For  a very  large  population  this  would  probably 
he  true,  hut  for  small  divisions  like  coimties  or  cities  the 
divergencies,  owing  to  migration,  might  he  considerable. 
We  know  that  calculations  of  the  total  population  for 
intermediate  years  on  the  basis  of  births  and  deaths  is 
sometimes  as  much  as  15  or  20  per  cent  out  of  the  way. 


BIRTHS. 


87 


in  the  case  of  rapidly  growing  towns.  The  chances  for 
error  would  he  greater  in  the  case  of  a particular  class,  and 
the  number  being  comparatively  small,  the  proportionate 
birth-rate  would  be  considerably  affected.  It  would  seem 
to  be  better,  therefore,  to  employ  the  crude  birth-rate  for 
comparison  between  large  bodies  of  population,  or  for  the 
purpose  of  following  the  number  of  births  from  year  to 
year  in  a population  which  is  reasonably  stable.  The 
refined  birth-rate  may  be  used  during  census  years  for 
comparison  between  small  bodies  of  population. 

A second  reason  for  retaming  the  crude  birth-rate  is 
that  we  then  have  the  same  basis  for  general  vital  statis- 
tics, such  as  marriages,  deaths,  disease,  crime,  pauperism, 
etc.  It  is  true  that  in  these  cases  also  we  have  other 
standards  of  comparison,  as  in  the  case  of  marriages,  the 
number  of  persons  of  marriageable  age ; in  the  case  of 
criminals,  the  number  of  adults  ; but  these  special  classes 
do  not  correspond  to  each  other.  It  is,  therefore,  conven- 
ient to  retain  a crude  birth-rate  for  comparison  with  the 
crude  marriage -rate,  crude  death-rate,  etc.,  bearing  in  mind 
the  scientific  limitations  in  each  case. 

Question  of  the  Still-born.  The  statistics  of  different 
countries  often  differ  in  one  respect  which  gives  rise  to 
considerable  confusion,  f.e.,  by  including  or  excluding  from 
births  and  deaths  the  still-born.  In  England  the  number 
of  the  still-born  is  returned,  but  they  are  included  in  neither 
births  nor  deaths.  They  are  not  regarded  as  forming  or  as 
having  formed  a portion  of  the  population.  On  the  Con- 
tinent, on  the  other  hand,  they  are  included  in  both  births 
and  deaths.  Their  inclusion  or  exclusion  makes  a very 
considerable  difference  in  the  birth-rate.  For  instance,  the 
birth-rate  for  Germany,  including  the  still-born,  was  38.24 
per  1000  in  1891.  The  still-born  were  3.31  per  cent  of 
the  total  number  of  births.  Excluding  the  still-born  re- 
duces the  birth-rate  to  about  37  per  1000.  For  1890  the 
birth-rate,  including  the  still-born,  was  36.97,  excluding 


88 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


them,  it  Avas  35.75.  We  must,  therefore,  in  comparing  the 
birth-rates  of  different  countries,  ahvays  knoAv  whether 
the  still-born  are  included  or  excluded.  Comparative  tables 
published  by  continental  authors  always  include  them ; 
while  those  published  by  the  Registrar  General  of  England 
always  exclude  them.  Care  must  be  taken  not  to  bring 
into  juxtaj)Osition  figures  taken  from  these  two  sources. 

The  abstract  question  whether  the  still-born  should  or 
should  not  be  included  in  the  birth-rate  is  not  of  great  im- 
portance compared  with  the  practical  inconveniences  men- 
tioned aboA^e.  Continental  statisticians  defend  the  prac- 
tice of  entering  the  still-born  among  both  the  births  and 
deaths,  because  of  the  difficulty  of  distinguishing  between 
the  still-born  and  infants  dying  a few  minutes,  or,  at  least, 
a short  time  after  birth.  If  the  child  Avere  capable  of  Ih’- 
ing  Avhen  born,  they  contend  that  it  is  to  all  intents  and 
purposes  a birth.  The  English  statisticians  think  that  the 
proper  plan  Avould  be  to  register  all  still-births  in  a sepa- 
rate category.  By  them  no  child  is  considered  to  have  been 
born  unless  actually  breathing  after  birth. 

Particular  Tests.  The  age  distribution  is  perhaps  the 
most  important  factor  influencing  the  birth-rate.  But  in 
studying  the  birth-rate  of  small  communities,  care  should 
always  be  taken  to  consider  local  circumstances  Avhich  may 
affect  the  birth-rate.  We  have  already  referred  to  the 
fact  that  in  some  cities  the  young  married  people  live  in 
the  suburbs  Avhere  rents  are  cheap.  In  such  suburbs  the 
birth-rate  would  be  high,  while  in  the  centre  of  the  toA\m 
it  would  be  low.  In  some  cases  we  haA^e  the  reverse 
phenomenon,  the  poor  being  croAvded  into  the  centre,  and 
the  rich  and  well-to-do  living  in  the  park-like  suburbs. 
Other  particular  circumstances  are  the  presence  of  troops 
in  barracks,  the  number  of  women  liAung  as  domestic  ser- 
vants, immigration  in  search  of  temporary  employment, 
and  economic  conditions.  These  things  affect  both  the 
legitimate  and  illegitimate  births. 


BIRTHS. 


89 


Reflective  Analysis. 

It  appears  from  the  above  statistics  that  the  number  of 
births  in  a country  from  year  to  year  has  an  important 
connection  with  its  social  condition.  Where  it  decreases 
suddenly  it  shows  the  effect  of  a war,  or  of  commercial 
distress  or  economic  disaster.  Where  it  increases,  it  is 
generally  a sign  of  economic  prosperity,  because  no  such 
increase  could  be  brought  about  except  by  some  influence 
affecting  a large  portion  of  the  community.  Even  if  the 
birth-rate  only  brought  about  a shifting  of  the  age  distri- 
bution, it  would  be  a fact  too  important  to  be  neglected. 
If  the  number  of  births  remained  the  same  from  year  to 
year,  then,  the  mortality  remaining  unchanged,  the  com- 
munity would  retain  the  same  age  distribution.  Where 
the  number  of  births  increases  from  year  to  year,  at  first 
there  is  a proportionately  large  number  of  children  and 
youth  in  the  population.  If  there  then  follow  a period 
of  decreasing  births,  the  proportionate  number  of  adults  is 
increased.  If  the  births  continue  stationary,  the  propor- 
tionate number  of  old  people  is  increased.  These  differ- 
ent conditions  have  considerable  social  importance.  In 
France,  the  low  birth-rate  results  in  a population  of  high 
productive  power,  but  with  poor  prospects  for  the  future. 
The  moderately  increasing  births  in  England  give  a popu- 
lation of  good  productive  power,  with  great  elasticity  and 
reserve  power  for  the  future.  A low  birth-rate,  in  one 
direction,  is  an  evil  if  it  lead  to  future  low  productive 
power,  to  social  immorality,  or  to  the  destruction  of  family 
life  ; while  a high  birth-rate,  in  the  other  direction,  is  an 
evil  if  it  overburden  the  productive  power  and  lead  to 
a condition  of  persistent  and  hopeless  poverty.  Close 
analysis  and  study  of  local  communities  may  sometimes 
enable  us  to  detect  instances  of  these  two  extremes. 

The  comparative  birth-rate  among  different  classes  in 
the  same  community  must  always  be  a matter  of  social 


90 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY, 


importance.  It  would  seem  to  be  a dangerous  sign  where 
the  upper  classes  cease  to  have  children,  while  the  lower 
have  large  numbers.  It  must  be  a matter  of  social  concern 
that  the  negroes  in  the  United  States  have  a large  birth- 
rate, and  the  whites  a small.  It  must  be  a matter  of  social 
interest,  if  it  be  true,  that  the  foreign-born  in  the  United 
States  have  a large  number  of  children,  while  the  descend- 
ants of  the  colonists  have  smaller  and  smaller  families. 
It  is  sociologically  important  to  know  that  the  poj)ulation 
of  cities  is  kept  up  only  by  immigration,  and  that  the  city 
born  and  bred  show  a decreasing  birth-rate  from  generation 
to  generation.  It  is  true  that  the  importance  of  the  relative 
growth  of  different  sections  in  the  community  may  be 
exaggerated.  For,  owing  to  the  many  changes  brought 
about  by  births  and  deaths,  the  antitheses  are  softened 
and  the  upper  classes  are  recruited  from  the  lower.  The 
birth-rate,  however,  is  a rough  index  of  the  rapidity  with 
which  these  changes  are  going  on. 

The  way  in  which  a community  grows,  whether  by  numer- 
ous births  and  numerous  deaths,  or  by  a moderate  number 
of  births  and  few  deaths,  is  to  a certain  extent  an  indication 
of  the  stage  of  civilization  in  which  that  community  finds 
itself.  The  former  must  be  looked  upon  as  unfortunate 
and  degrading.  In  some  mining  districts  of  England  the 
large  birth-rate  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  women  marry 
at  a very  early  age,  have  numerous  children,  and  that  the 
great  mortality  among  their  ehildren,  by  shortening  the 
suckling  period,  enables  the  births  to  be  more  frequent. 
Such  early  marriage  and  frequent  child-bearing  destroys  the 
health  and  strength  of  the  women,  and  reduces  the  whole 
family  life  to  the  level  of  the  brute.  The  other  extreme  of 
late  or  no  marriage  is  equally  destructive  of  social  mor- 
ality. The  desirable  system  is  marriage  at  a reasonable 
age,  and  the  birth  of  a sufficient  number  of  children  to 
keep  up  family  life  and  recruit  the  population. 

The  statistics  of  illegitimate  births  must  always  be  of 


BIETHS. 


91 


interest  as  indicative  of  social  morality,  but  must  be 
studied  under  the  limitations  and  conditions  noted  above. 

It  is  certainly  astonishing,  when  we  take  a long  period, 
to  see  how  little  the  birth-rate  varies  from  year  to  year. 
In  Germany,  for  instance,  for  the  long  period  from  1841 
to  1885,  the  annual  variation  from  the  average  birth-rate 
was  on  an  average  only  3.98  per  cent.  This  number  is 
calculated  as  follows.  The  average  birth-rate  is  ascer- 
tained, being  the  arithmetical  mean  of  all  the  different 
years.  The  variation  for  each  year  from  this  mean  is 
ascertained,  and  these  variations  are  added  together.  The 
per  cent  relation  of  this  sum  to  the  sum  of  all  the  yearly 
birth-rates  represents  the  per-cent  variation  from  the 
average  birth-rate.  That  this  variation  was  so  small, 
does  not  show,  indeed,  that  there  were  not  larger  varia- 
tions in  different  parts  of  the  country,  but  simply  that 
they  counterbalanced  each  other.  It  is  also  curious  to 
notice  that  the  variations  are  much  greater  if  we  take 
the  legitimate  and  the  illegitimate  births  separately,  than 
if  we  take  them  together,  and  are  especially  great  among 
the  illegitimate.  The  annual  variation  among  legitimate 
births  was  4.57  per  cent,  and  among  the  illegitimate  was 
9.40  per  cent.  In  the  smaller  territories  the  variation 
among  the  latter  was  very  great,  often  running  as  high  as 
20  or  25  per  cent,  and  in  one  case  going  as  high  as  31  per 
cent.  Of  course,  where  we  have  small  figures  to  deal  with, 
as  in  the  case  of  illegitimate  births  in  a small  population, 
the  variations  from  year  to  year  may  be  very  considerable.^ 

We  may,  in  conclusion,  demand  whether  we  have  dis- 
covered any  sociological  law  bearing  upon  the  number  of 
births.  The  answer  to  this  question  is  perfectly  plain 
from  the  statistical  data  given  above.  Natural  influences 
seem  to  have  an  effect  only  indirectly,  by  affecting  the 
economic  condition  of  the  community.  Here  the  effect 
is  probably  enormous,  working  again  indirectly  through 
1 Statistik  des  Deutschen  Eeichs,  No.  44,  p.  15*. 


92 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


the  increase  in  the  number  of  marriages.  Natural  influ- 
ences may  be  traced  also  in  the  variation  of  births  during 
different  seasons  of  the  year,  and  possibly  in  the  com- 
monly supposed  large  birth-rate  in  warm  climates.  Great 
social  influences  are  undoubtedly  seen  in  the  variations 
from  province  to  province  or  from  county  to  county  in 
the  same  country.  Psychological  influences  may  occasion- 
ally be  detected  in  the  depression  in  the  birth-rate  during 
a time  of  war  or  some  public  calamity,  or  in  public  opin- 
ion encouraging  small  families,  as  in  France.  It  is  safe  to 
say,  therefore,  that  we  have  here  traces  of  sociological 
laws  governing  the  number  of  births.  Some  of  them  are 
simple  regularities,  like  the  proportion  of  boys  to  girls 
born  ; some  are  physiological,  like  that  governing  the 
number  of  still-born ; some  are  social-moral,  like  those 
governing  the  number  of  illegitimates ; some  are  social- 
psychological  or  social-economic,  like  those  governing  the 
general  birth-rate.  The  difficult  and  delicate  task  of 
Statistical  Science  is  to  disentangle  these  relations  so 
as  to  enable  us  to  catch  a glimpse  of  the  working  of 
these  laws. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

MARRIAGES. 

Sociological  Purpose. 

The  second  great  sociological  event  in  the  life  of  man 
is  marriage.  For  the  community  it  has  significance,  not 
only  because  the  number  of  marriages  affects  the  number 
of  births,  but  also  because  marriage  establishes  the  family, 
and  through  its  influence  on  the  life  of  the  individual 
permeates  all  the  phenomena  of  social  life. 

The  number  of  marriages  from  year  to  year  is  always 
worthy  of  study.  A sudden  decline  is  generally  traceable 
to  a war  or  some  economic  shock.  A gradual  decline 
may  be  due  to  declining  economic  prosperity,  or  to  some 
change  in  social  condition  or  habits.  It  may  be  indicative 
of  conditions  leading  to  social  vice  or  unhappiness,  and  if 
continued  may  affect  the  character  and  happiness  of  the 
whole  nation.  A gradual  rise  is  indicative  of  economic 
well-being  and  hopefulness  in  regard  to  the  future.  A 
tendency  to  defer  marriage  may  affect  the  growth  of 
population  by  diminishing  the  period  of  married  life  and  in- 
creasing the  interval  between  generations.  It  may  indicate 
economic  difficulty,  or  simply  prudence  and  forethought. 
The  sociological  purpose  of  an  inquiry  into  the  number  of 
marriages  and  its  increase  or  decrease  from  year  to  year 
is  to  explain  its  significance  for  the  social  life  of  the 
community. 

But  just  as  in  the  case  of  births,  so  with  marriages, 

93 


94 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


there  are  questions  lying  behind  the  mere  number  and  its 
increase  or  decrease,  viz.,  whether  there  are  causes  affecting 
marriages.  Do  natural  causes  such  as  climate,  geographi- 
cal position,  seasons,  race,  etc.,  influence  the  proportionate 
number  of  marriages  or  the  marriage-rate  ? Marriage  in 
the  case  of  the  individual  is  simply  a private  act,  but  the 
total  number  of  marriages  for  the  community  is  a social 
phenomenon.  How  is  the  action  of  the  individual  affected 
by  other  social  phenomena,  such  as  economic  prosperity 
or  adversity,  human  laws,  public  opinion,  social  hopeful- 
ness and  ambition?  Is  the  influence  of  social  forces  so 
Xiowerful  that  in  the  mass  of  cases  the  will  of  the  individual 
is  controlled  by  them,  and,  the  forces  remaining  the  same, 
the  number  of  marriages  remains  the  same  ? These  in- 
quiries may  be  extended  to  consideration  of  density  of 
population,  residence  in  city  and  country,  social  position, 
occupation,  etc.  Where  we  can  establish  relations  of 
regularity  or  variation  we  are  on  the  track  of  sociological 
laws. 

Finally,  there  are  certain  circumstances  connected  with 
marriage  which  are  of  the  highest  sociological  importance. 
One  is  the  dissolution  of  marriage  by  death  or  divorce, 
with  the  result  for  the  individuals  concerned  and  the 
community  at  large.  Another  is  the  fruitfulness  of  mar- 
riage, Le.,  the  number  of  children  to  each  married  couple. 
Another  is  the  question  of  conjugal  condition.  The  in- 
stitution of  marriage  resolves  the  community  into  four 
classes,  the  single,  married,  widowed,  and  divorced.  The 
relative  number  of  these  four  classes  has  economic  and 
social  importance,  as  already  set  forth  in  a preceding 
chapter.  Their  connection  with  other  demographic  phe- 
nomena is  extremely  curious.  The  probability  of  marriage 
or  of  remarriage  is  of  considerable  social  interest.  In  all 
these  respects  the  sociological  purpose  of  our  inquiry  is  to 
arrange  the  statistics  of  marriage  in  connection  with  other 
phenomena  so  that  they  may  explain  each  other. 


MAEKIAGES. 


95 


Statistical  Data. 

The  number  of  marriages  is  generally  reduced  for 
purposes  of  comparison  to  a marriage-rate,  i.e.,  the  num- 
ber of  marriages  celebrated  in  a year  per  each  1000  of  the 
popiilation.  There  is  some  slight  confusion  here  because 
some  statisticians  count  the  number  of  marriages,  and  others 
the  number  of  persons  married.  As  the  latter  number  is 
naturally  exactly  twice  the  former  and  the  variations 
are  not  wide,  there  is  little  danger  of  confusing  one  with 
the  other.  For  purposes  of  comparison,  of  course,  the 
two  methods  must  be  kept  apart.  The  number  of  persons 
annually  married  per  1000  of  the  population,  according  to 
the  figures  of  the  Registrar  General  of  England,  for  the 
different  countries  of  Europe,  is  shown  in  the  following 
table : 


COTTUTEY. 

Average 

lSTl-90. 

1891. 

1892. 

1893. 

Hungary  (15  years)  . . 

19.1 

17.2 

18.4 

18.6 

Prussia 

16.7 

16.3 

16.1 

16.1 

German  Empire  . . . 

16.4 

16.1 

15.9 

15.8 

Austria 

16.3 

15.4 

15.6 

- 

England  and  Wales  . . 

15.6 

15.6 

15.4 

14.7 

Italy 

15.6 

15.0 

15.0 

14.7 

France 

15.4 

15.0 

15.2 

- 

Denmark 

15.2 

13.6 

13.6 

14.1 

Holland  ...... 

15.1 

14.2 

14.4 

14.6 

Switzerland 

14.7 

14.4 

14.8 

14.7 

The  United  Kingdom  . . 

14.4 

14.6 

14.5 

13.9 

Belgium .* 

14.2 

14.8 

15.4 

15.2 

Scotland 

13.9 

13.9 

14.1 

13.2 

Norway 

13.7 

13.2 

12.7 

12.8 

Sweden 

13.1 

11.7 

11.4 

- 

Ireland 

9.0 

9.2 

9.3 

9.4 

This  table  shows  wide  differences  between  the  different 
countries  of  Europe,  the  number  of  persons  married  per 
1000  of  the  population  being  double  in  Hungary  what 
it  is  in  Ireland.  These,  however,  may  be  regarded  as 
extremes,  the  usual  marriage-rate  being  between  14  and 


96 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


16  married  persons,  or  between  7 and  8 marriages  annually 
for  each  1000  persons  in  the  population. 

Taking  one  country,  the  marriage-rate  shows  very  con- 
siderable regularity  from  year  to  year.  Since  1871-80 
there  has  been  a tendency  to  a decline  in  most  of  the 
countries  of  Europe,  with  some  recovery  since  1890. 
During  the  period  1838-92,  the  average  marriage-rate 
for  England  and  Wales  has  been  16.1,  with  a maximum  of 
17.9  in  1853,  and  a minimum  of  14.2  in  1886.  The  aver- 
age, 16.1,  has  not  been  attained  since  1876.  Much  the 
same  tendency  is  observable  in  France  and  Germany. 

Influence  of  Climate  and  G-eographical  Position  on 
Marriages.  To  study  these  influences  it  would  be  neces- 
sary to  have  statistics  of  the  different  parts  of  the  world. 
For  barbarous  or  uncivilized  countries,  such  statistics  are 
entirely  lacking,  or  very  imperfect.  It  is  generally  sup- 
posed that  in  warm  climates  women  marry  young,  and 
thus  the  marriage-rate  would  be  increased.  In  India, 
for  example,  although  we  have  no  exact  marriage  statistics, 
we  know  that  marriage  is  almost  universal,  that  the  girls 
marry  at  a youthful  age,  and  that  widows  often  remarry. 
What  is  true  of  India  would  probably  be  true  of  other 
hot  countries  inhabited  by  uncivilized  races.  As  marriage, 
however,  is  not  a process  of  nature,  but  merely  a social 
custom,  the  statistics  of  civilized  and  uncivilized  nations 
differing  in  religion  and  law  would  not  be  comparable. 
Even  in  Europe,  where  the  degree  of  civilization  is  about 
the  same,  the  influence  of  climate,  geographical  position, 
and  race  is  less  noticeable  than  in  the  case  of  births.  It 
is  true  that  in  the  east  of  Europe,  as  in  Hungary,  Austria, 
and  the  eastern  provinces  of  Prussia,  we  have  a large  mar- 
riage-rate. That  is  due  probably  to  the  state  of  ciHli- 
zation,  which  encourages  early  marriages,  rather  than  to 
any  climatic,  geographical,  or  race  influence.  In  Northern 
Europe,  as  in  Norway,  Sweden,  and  Scotland,  we  have 
rather  a small  marriage-rate,  but  this  is  due  probably  to 


MARKIAGES. 


97 


emigration.  An  extreme  case  of  this  sort  is  Ireland,  where 
we  have  an  abnormally  low  marriage-rate,  owing  to  the 
emigration  of  young  men  and  women.  It  is  a curious 
fact  that  France,  which  has  such  an  abnormally  low  birth- 
rate, has  about  the  same  marriage-rate  as  England  and 
Italy. 

Marriages  according  to  Seasons.  In  births  we  found 
a well-defined  tendency  to  concentration  about  certain 
months,  due  somewhat  to  natural  influences  and  somewhat 
to  social  customs  influencing  the  time  of  marriage,  the 
principal  among  which  are  the  observance  of  religious 
fasts  or  festivals.  In  most  countries  there  are  few  mar- 
riages during  Advent  and  Lent,  while  they  tend  to  con- 
centrate themselves  about  the  Christmas  holidays  and 
before  and  after  Lent.  This  movement,  however,  differs 
in  different  populations  according  as  the  religious  influ- 
ence is  strong  or  weak. 

In  Germany  (1872  to  1885),  if  we  represent  the  average 
per  month  by  100,  the  maximum  number  of  marriages 
would  be  represented  by  153  for  November ; and  it  descends 
to  76  for  December,  and  ascends  over  January  (97)  to 
February  (118)  ; March  shows  the  minimum  with  58  ; 
then  the  number  ascends  over  April  (115)  to  May  (124) ; 
June  shows  91,  July  84,  August  68,  and  then  the  number 
ascends  over  September  (92)  and  October  (128),  to  the 
maximum  in  November.  The  influence  of  religious  and 
social  causes  is  very  plain.  Where  Catholicism  is  power- 
ful the  influence  of  the  fasting  time  is  much  more  marked. 
In  cities  like  Berlin  the  religious  influence  almost  disap- 
pears. In  Sweden  and  Finland,  Protestant  countries, 
the  maximum  falls  in  December,  that  is,  during  Advent  ; 
in  Scotland  it  falls  in  January,  and  a second  maximum 
in  June,  showing  the  absence  of  churchly  influence.^ 

Density  of  Population  and  Marriage-rate.  It  is  diffi- 

1 Becker,  Allg.  Stat.  Archiv,  II.,  p.  29  If.  Statistik  des  Deutschen 
Reichs,  No.  44,  p.  200. 


98 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


cult  to  trace  any  uniform  influence  of  density  upon 
marriages.  Belgium,  with  a high  density,  has  a low  mar- 
riage-rate, but  not  so  low  as  Norway  and  Sweden,  which 
have  a thin  population.  If  we  take  the  provinces  of 
Prussia,  using  the  average  marriage-rate  for  a period  of 
45  years,  which  ought  to  exclude  merely  temporary  influ- 
ences and  show  us  any  permanent  power  of  climate, 
density,  and  agricultural  or  industrial  condition,  we  are 
struck  by  the  fact  that  the  highest  marriage-rate,  just 
as  in  the  case  of  the  birth-rate,  is  found  in  the  eastern 
provinces,  which  have  also  a low  density  of  population. 
Silesia  and  the  Rlflneland,  however,  which  both  have 
dense  populations  and  are  both  mining  and  industrial 
regions,  have,  the  former,  the  average  marriage-rate, 
while  the  latter  has  the  lowest  marriage-rate  of  any 
province. 

In  England  the  registration  counties  in  which  the 
marriage-rate  is  the  highest  are  London  (17.6),  Lanca- 
shire (16.2),  Northumberland  (16.0),  Nottinghamshire 
(16.3)  ; while  the  lowest  is  found  in  Hertfordshire  (10.8), 
Rutlandshire  (11.2),  Herefordshire  (11.8),  and  Middle- 
sex (11.1).  This  is  for  the  decade  1881-90,  when  the 
rate  for  all  England  was  14.9.  These  variations  in  Eng- 
land are  due  more  to  the  age  distribution  and  occupations 
of  the  people  than  to  any  density  of  population  or  influ- 
ence of  climate. 

Marriage-rate  in  City  and  Country.  The  marriage-rate 
is  generally  higher  in  towns  and  cities  than  in  the  coun- 
try, because  of  the  larger  number  of  persons  of  the  age 
of  20  to  40.  In  Germany,  while  the  average  marriage- 
rate  for  the  whole  country  (1890)  was  16.6,  in  47  cities 
the  average  rate  was  19.9.  In  the  city  of  Berlin  it  was 
22.9,  in  Hamburg  21.7,  in  Leipsic  22.7,  in  Munich  19.6, 
in  Breslau  18.9,  in  Cologne  19.8,  in  Dresden  20.2,  in 
Magdeburg  19.3,  in  Frankfort  21.0.  In  a few  of  the 
cities  the  marriage-rate  fell  below  the  average.  Thus 


MAERIAGES. 


99 


in  Stuttgart  it  was  only  13.8,  in  Strasburg  14.9,  in 
Metz  14.6,  and  in  Darmstadt  14.9.  These  variations 
again  are  due  probably  to  variations  in  the  age 
classes.^ 

In  France  the  marriage-rate  in  1885  was  for  the  Depart- 
ment of  the  Seine  16.6,  for  the  urban  population  of  France 
14.8,  and  for  the  rural  population  14.6.^  The  difference 
is  inconsiderable.  In  England  the  marriage-rate  is  gener- 
ally highest  in  manufacturing  towns. 

Marriages  according  to  Race  and  Religious  Confession. 
Marriage  depending  partly  upon  age  and  partly  upon 
social  customs,  general  influences  like  race  and  religious 
confession  are  obscured  by  the  influence  of  the  age 
distribution  and  the  social  and  economic  condition  of  the 
people.  Race  nowhere  asserts  itself.  For  religious  con- 
fession we  have  some  particular  statistics.  In  Prussia,  in 
1890,  the  average  marriage-rate  among  men  was  16.64; 
among  Evangelical  men,  16.84;  among  Catholic  men, 
16.30 ; among  Jewish  men,  14.66.  The  marriage-rate 
among  women  was  16.04 ; among  Evangelical  women, 
16.35 ; among  Catholic  women,  15.59 ; among  Jewish 
women,  14.12.  The  low  rate  among  the  Jews  may  per- 
haps be  due  to  greater  prudence  in  marriage,  that  is,  to 
marrying  at  an  advanced  age.^ 

Influence  of  War  on  the  Marriage-rate.  The  effect  of 
war,  removing  as  it  does  a considerable  number  of  men 
of  marriageable  age,  and  interfering  often  with  the  occupa- 
tions of  those  who  remain,  is  to  bring  down  the  marriage- 
rate.  In  1866  the  Prussian  rate  fell  from  18.2  to  15.6, 
while  the  Austrian  rate  fell  from  15.5  to  13.0.  In  the 
war  of  1870-71,  the  Prussian  rate  fell  from  17.9  in  1869 
to  14.9  in  1870  and  15.9  in  1871 ; but  in  the  two  years 
after  peace  was  made  it  rose  to  20.6  and  20.2,  the  highest 

1 Jahrbuch  deutscher  Stadte,  1892. 

^Levasseur,  Population  fran§aise,  II.,  p.  77. 

3 Handbuch  des  Preuss.  Staats,  1890,  pp.  109,  144. 


100 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


rates  ever  recorded.  In  France  the  rate  fell  from  16.5  to 
12.1  and  14.4,  and  then  rose  to  19.5  and  17.7,  the  highest 
rates  ever  recorded  in  France.  The  reason  for  this  is  too 
obvious  to  need  explanation.^ 

Marriages  and  the  Price  of  Food.  In  former  times 
there  seems  to  have  been  a close  connection  between  the 
number  of  marriages  and  the  price  of  food.  For  instance, 
in  Bavaria,  wliile  the  number  of  marriages  was  usually 
about  30,000  per  annum,  in  1846-47  it  sank  to  28,331,  and 
in  1853-54  it  sank  to  26,939.  This  was  undoubtedly  due 
to  the  scarcity  of  food.  So  marked  was  this  influence  in 
the  early  part  of  this  century,  that  it  became  a common- 
place of  statistics  that  the  number  of  marriages  varied 
inversely  with  the  price  of  corn. 

In  Germany  this  tendency  of  the  number  of  marriages  to 
decrease  when  the  price  of  rye  was  high  and  to  increase 
when  the  price  was  low  was  observable  until  about  1860. 
Since  that  time  Germany  has  become  so  industrial  and 
commercial  that  the  price  of  food  is  only  one  element  in 
the  economic  well-being  of  the  masses.  The  truth  of  the 
above  maxim  is  better  expressed  in  a more  general  form 
in  the  words  of  Hermann,  the  Bavarian  statistician,  as 
follows  : “ The  number  of  marriages  in  any  period  ex- 
presses the  expectation  of  economic  prosperity  prevailing 
at  that  time,  and  expresses  this  the  more  clearly,  the 
greater  the  degree  of  economic  freedom  in  the  country.” 
This  is  well  illustrated  in  England,  where  during  this 
century,  at  least,  the  number  of  marriages  and  the  price 
of  corn  have  seemed  to  bear  no  relation  to  each 
other.2 

1 Dr.  William  Ogle,  On  Marriage  Eates,  etc.,  Jour.  Stat.  See.  1890, 
p.  253. 

2 In  recent  years  the  marriage-rate  has  increased  as  the  price  of  corn 
has  increased.  Dr.  Ogle  explains  this  by  increased  exports  and  imports 
putting  up  freights  and  thus  increasing  the  price  of  com,  although  it  is  a 
time  of  economic  prosperity  and  marriages  are  more  frequent.  Jour. 
Stat.  Soc.  1890,  p.  262. 


MARRIAGES. 


101 


English  statisticians  have  taken  other  things  as  the 
measure  of  economic  prosperity,  such  as  the  amount  of 
exports  or  imports,  or  the  transactions  of  the  Clearing 
House,  per  head  of  population.  The  marriage-rate  cor- 
responds most  closely  with  the  value  of  exports ; for 
although  the  fluctuations  from  year  to  year  are  much 
greater  in  the  latter  than  in  the  former,  yet  an  increase 
or  depression  in  the  one  is  almost  always  followed  by  a 
corresponding  increase  or  depression  in  the  other.  Dr. 
Ogle  asserts  that  in  the  50  years  from  1839  to  1888  there 
are  only  five  in  which  the  marriage-rate  moved  in  a differ- 
ent direction  from  the  export  values ; there  are  three  years 
in  which  the  rate  remained  imchanged,  while  the  exports 
rose  or  fell ; while  in  all  the  remaining  years  the  two  rose 
or  fell  together.  The  amount  of  exports  is  an  index  of 
economic  prosperity,  because  it  gauges  the  opportunity  for 
employment.  And  it  does  this  the  more  surely  in  proportion 
as  the  people  of  England  become  less  dependent  on  agricul- 
ture and  more  on  industry.  But  although  the  fluctuations 
correspond  in  general  direction,  they  do  not  correspond 
in  amount.  For  while  the  value  per  capita  of  British 
exports  in  1891  is  as  great  as  it  was  in  1866,  the  marriage- 
rate  has  decreased  from  17.5  to  15.6.  Dr.  Ogle  ascribes 
this  continued  decrease  to  the  depression  in  agriculture, 
which  has  rendered  marriage  more  difficult  for  those 
who  depend  for  their  livelihood  upon  the  land,  and 
secondly,  to  the  increasing  standard  of  comfort,  which 
makes  men  and  women  unwilling  to  burden  themselves 
with  a family  until  they  are  assured  of  a much  higher 
income  than  they  would  in  former  days  have  held  to  be 
sufficient.^ 

The  Probability  of  Marriage.  The  marriage-rate  which 
we  have  been  using  thus  far  is  simply  the  proportion  of 
persons  getting  married  during  the  year  to  the  whole 

iJour.  Stat.  Soc.  1890,  p.  265.  Eor  effect  of  scarcity  on  marriage- 
rate  in  France,  see  Levasseur,  Pop.  fran^aise,  II.,  p.  71. 


102 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


population.  But  a large  portion  of  the  population,  namely, 
the  children,  are  unable  to  get  married,  and  another  large 
portion  is  already  married.  These  persons  have  nothing 
to  do  with  the  marriages  of  the  current  year,  and  hence  it 
is  incorrect  to  include  them  in  the  standard  of  comparison. 
We  get  a better  standard  if  we  take  the  persons  over  15 
years  of  age  who  are  not  living  in  the  married  state,  that 
is,  are  either  single,  widowed,  or  divorced.  The  proportion 
of  persons  getting  married  to  this  total  of  marriageable 
persons  may  be  called  the  refined  marriage-rate.  It  rep- 
resents also  the  probability  of  marriage.  It  is  higher  for 
men  than  for  women,  because  the  number  of  marriageable 
men  is  less  than  that  of  women.  For  instance,  in  Germany, 
during  the  period  1872-80,  of  every  1000  persons  cap- 
able of  marriage  55.7  became  married;  of  1000  such 
men,  59.3,  and  of  1000  such  women,  52.6.  This  figure 
diminished  during  the  nine  years,  for  while  in  1872  it  was 
64.7,  in  1880  it  was  only  49.1.^ 

The  probability  of  marriage  differs  widely  in  different 
countries  and  even  in  the  provinces  of  the  same  country. 
In  Hungary  it  ran  as  high  as  81.4,  and  in  Ireland  as  low 
as  25.8.  In  Great  Britain  it  was  53.1;  in  France,  50.4  ; 
in  Italy,  48.6  ; in  Austria,  47.5  ; in  Norway,  43.2  ; in  Swit- 
zerland, 42.6  ; in  Sweden,  40.3. 

Should  we  continue  this  examination  for  smaller 
subdivisions  of  territory  such  as  the  provinces  of 
Prussia,  we  should  find  equally  great  variations.  In 
the  province  Posen  the  marriage-rate  calculated  on  this 
plan  was  63.8,  while  in  the  Rhine  province,  exclusive 
of  Diisseldorf,  the  rate  was  only  47.3.  In  the  former 
province  there  was  the  usual  difference  between  the 
sexes,  the  rates  being  72.6  for  men  and  57.  for  women, 
while  in  the  Rhine  province  it  was  the  same  for  men  and 
women. 

The  cause  of  these  great  variations  can  lie  in  part  only 
^ Statistik  des  Deutschen  Eeichs,  No.  44,  pp.  44*^  and  46^. 


MAERIAGES. 


103 


in  the  age  distribution.  Other  influences  are  at  work  hut 
it  is  difiicult  to  trace  them.  The  high  rates  in  most  of 
the  provinces  of  eastern  Prussia  would  seem  to  indicate 
that  an  agricultural  and  sparse  population  was  favourable 
to  marriage.  But  the  rate  is  also  high  in  the  city  of  Ber- 
lin, in  the  kingdom  and  province  of  Saxony,  and  in  the 
cities  of  Bremen  and  Hamburg.  There  is  a sort  of 
geographical  distribution,  inasmuch  as  the  heaviest  rates 
are  found  in  Central  and  East  Germany,  the  lightest  in 
South  and  West  Germany.  Other  countries  of  the 
Continent  group  themselves  to  a certain  extent  about 
Germany.  Galicia  and  Hungary  resemble  East  Ger- 
many ; West  Austria  is  something  like  South  Germany  ; 
in  France  the  numbers  correspond  to  those  in  Baden ; in 
Belgium  to  the  Rhine  province ; Holland  and  Denmark 
resemble  Schleswig-Holstein.  A more  minute  study  of 
small  areas  might  very  likely  reveal  the  influence  of 
climate,  race,  or  social  condition.^ 

Age  at  Marriage.  Here  we  have  two  figures  of  statis- 
tical interest,  namely,  the  average  age  at  which  men  and 
women  marry,  and  the  combination  of  ages,  that  is,  the 
relative  ages  of  bridegroom  and  bride.  We  find  very 
great  differences  in  different  countries.  In  Prussia  the 
average  age  of  bridegrooms  was  29.56  and  of  brides, 
26.52  years;  in  England,  of  bridegrooms,  28.37,  and  of 
brides,  26.08;  in  Norway,  of  bridegrooms,  30.66,  and  of 
brides,  27.83.  It  makes  considerable  difference  whether 
we  take  the  age  of  all  bridegrooms,  or  only  those  marry- 
ing for  the  first  time.  In  England,  for  instance,  the 
average  age  of  bachelor-bridegrooms  was  26.44 ; of 
widowers,  44.30;  of  spinster-brides,  24.87;  and  of 
widows,  40.43. 

This  average  age  varies  considerably  for  different  social 
classes,  the  upper  classes  generally  showing  an  advanced 
age.  The  following  figures  are  for  England  (1884-85)  : 

1 Ibid.  p.  46.* 


104 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


Age  of  bachelors 
marrying. 


Age  of  spinsters 
manying^. 


Miners 

Textile  hands 

Shoemakers,  tailors 

Artisans 

Labourers 

Commercial  clerks 

Shopkeepers,  etc 

Farmers  and  sons 

Professional  and  independent  class  . . 


24.06 

24.38 

24.92 

25.35 

25.56 

26.25 

26.67 

29.23 

31.22 


22.46 

23.43 
24.31 
23.70 
23.66 

24.43 
24.22 
26.91 
26.40 


There  seems  to  be  a general  tendency  in  England  to 
defer  marriage,  for  while,  in  1891,  the  average  age  of 
bachelors  marrying  was  26.4  and  of  spinsters  24.8,  in 
1880  it  was  only  25.8  and  24.4.^  The  number  of  under- 
age marriages  in  England  has  steadily  declined  since  1874 
from  8.4  per  cent  for  men  and  22.7  per  cent  for  women 
down  to  5.9  per  cent  for  men  and  19  per  cent  for  women. ^ 
In  Prussia,  in  1891,  only  1.26  per  cent  of  the  men  and  16.5 
per  cent  of  the  women  were  under  20  years  of  age.  In 
Prussia  the  lowest  average  age  at  marriage  was  found 
among  miners,  printers,  factory -hands  and  day-labourers  ; 
the  highest  among  artists,  literary  men,  inn-keepers,  clergy- 
men and  soldiers.  Men  marry  most  frequently  women 
Avithout  occupations  {Haus-Tochter)  ; then  women  who 
possess  some  knowledge  of  household  work,  such  as  cooks 
and  domestic  servants.^ 

The  average  age  of  brides  and  bridegrooms  is  of  less 
interest  than  the  distribution  by  age  classes.  Here  we 
find  A^ery  peculiar  national  differences.  In  some  countries 
both  bridegrooms  and  brides  are  much  younger  than  in 
other  countries.  The  general  facts  are  seen  in  the  follow- 
ing tables  referring  to  the  period  1870-82.* 

iQgle,  Jour.  Stat.  Soc.  1890,  p.  274.  Newsholme,  Vital  Statistics, 
p.  48. 

Kegistrar  General,  Rep.  1891,  p.  vii. 

®Zeitschrift  des  Preuss.  Bureaus,  1889,  p.  179. 

^Levasseur,  II.,  p.  214. 


MAEEIAGES. 


105 


A.  Percentage  of  Bridegrooms  bt  Age  Classes. 

Under  20  years.  20-30  years.  30-i0  years.  Above  40  years. 


Eussia 

37.8 

43.9 

11.8 

7.4 

Scotland  .... 

3.1 

68.8 

18.8 

9.3 

England  .... 

3.3 

73.4 

14.4 

8.9 

Prussia 

0.6 

67.2 

22.6 

9.6 

Bavaria  .... 

0.2 

55.5 

30.0 

14.3 

Italy 

1.1 

61.9 

26.1 

10.9 

Prance 

2.4 

62.3 

25.1 

10.3 

Sweden 

0.1 

58.9 

28.8 

12.2 

Norway  .... 

1.7 

62.1 

24.6 

11.6 

B.  Percentage  of  Brides  bt  Age  Classes. 

Under  20  years.  20-30  years.  30^0  years.  Above  40  years. 


Eussia  . . 

58.0 

33.2 

6.2 

2.6 

Scotland  . 

13.5 

68.9 

13.1 

4.5 

England  . 

14.4 

68.8 

10.9 

5.9 

Prussia  . . 

10.3 

69.7 

14.9 

5.9 

Bavaria . . 

6.4 

64.8 

20.6 

8.1 

Italy . . . 

16.9 

65.8 

12.5 

4.7 

France  . . 

21.2 

59.6 

13.7 

5.6 

Sweden . . 

5.5 

65.0 

22.2 

7.2 

Norway . . 

0.9 

59.1 

27.6 

12.4 

It  appears 

from 

these  two 

tables  that  the  brides 

as  a rule  younger  tlian  the  bridegrooms  ; that  in  Russia 
there  is  an  extraordinarily  large  number  of  bridegrooms 
under  the  age  of  20,  and  that  more  than  one-half  the 
brides  are  under  that  age  ; that  England  stands  next  in 
the  number  of  youthful  marriages  ; while  Bavaria  shows 
the  greatest  number  of  bridegrooms  above  the  age  of  40  ; 
and  Norway  leads  in  the  number  of  brides  above  the  age 
of  40.  The  reason  for  these  differences  lies  probably  in 
local  customs.  Russia  is  an  example  of  an  agricultural 
community  with  communistic  arrangements  under  which 
marriage  is  easy  and  undertaken  at  a youthful  age. 
Bavaria  shows  the  effect  of  the  old  marriage  laws.  In 
Norway  young  married  couples  are  said  to  have  great  diffi- 
culty in  getting  established.  The  comparatively  low  age 
in  England  may  possibly  be  explained  by  the  influence  of 
factory  life,  which  brings  men  and  women  together  and 


106 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


renders  marriage  easier  by  the  fact  that  the  woman  is  able 
to  contribute  to  the  expenses  of  the  household. 

Another  interesting  investigation  is  the  combination  of 
ages  of  bridegrooms  and  brides.  Here  we  may  have  a 
great  variety  of  combinations,  as  women  marry  men  older 
than  they,  or  men  of  about  the  same  age,  or  even  younger. 
From  German  statistics  it  appears  that  as  a rule  bride- 
grooms under  20  marry  women  between  20  and  30 ; 
bridegrooms  from  20  to  30  marry  women  of  the  same  age  ; 
and  bridegrooms  above  30  marry  women  younger  than 
they.  Brides  under  20  marry  men  from  20  to  30  ; brides 
between  20  and  30  marry  men  of  the  same  age  ; brides 
between  30  and  40  marry  men  between  20  and  30  ; and 
brides  above  40  marry  men  of  the  same  age  class. 

In  most  countries  the  most  frequent  marriages  are  of 
men  with  women  of  the  quinquennial  age  class  immedi- 
ately below  them.  A singular  exception  is  England, 
where  in  nearly  one-third  of  the  cases  both  men  and 
women  are  between  20  and  25  years  of  age. 

The  combination  of  ages  differs  very  much  in  different 
occupations.  Dr.  Ogle  has  followed  it  out  for  all  the 
occupations  mentioned  on  page  104.  Taking  the  two 
extremes,  namely,  the  miners  and  the  professional  and 
independent  class,  we  have  the  following  distribution  per 
1000  bachelors  marrying  and  their  wives. ^ 


Pkofessional  and 

AQ£3. 

Miners. 

Independent  Class. 

Men. 

Women. 

Men. 

W omen. 

Under  age  .... 

169 

439 

7 

127 

21  to  25  . . . . . 

535 

388 

144 

402 

25  to  30 

228 

123 

376 

278 

30  to  35 

47 

30 

272 

107 

35  to  40 

14 

11 

98 

34 

40  to  45 

6 

4 

43 

24 

45  to  50 

- 

4 

26 

11 

50  and  upwards  . . 

1 

1 

34 

17 

1000 

1000 

1000 

1000 

1 Jour.  Stat.  Soc.  1890,  p.  274. 


MARRIAGES. 


107 


One  is  struck  here  by  the  fact  that  not  only  do  the  men 
marry  younger  among  the  miners,  but  also  the  women. 
The  possibility  of  a man  marrying  is  generally  controlled 
by  his  economic  condition.  But  among  women  such  a 
cause  would  not  be  active  in  the  majority  of  cases,  so  that 
one  does  not  see  exactly  why  marriage  should  be  deferred 
in  the  case  of  women  of  the  upper  classes. 

The  Probability  of  Marriage  at  Different  Ages.  The  above 
tables  showing  the  number  of  men  or  women  marrying  at 
different  ages  do  not  take  into  account  the  fact  that  there 
is  a greater  number  of  people  in  the  lower  age  classes  than 
in  the  upper,  and  also  that  there  is  a less  number  married. 
It  is  obvious,  however,  that  the  number  of  men,  say  of  the 
age  20  to  30,  who  contract  marriage  must  depend  upon  the 
number  of  men  of  that  age,  and  especially  upon  the  num- 
ber of  men  still  unmarried.  F or  certain  states  of  Germany 
they  have  compared  the  number  of  men  and  women  marry- 
ing at  each  age  with  the  number  of  men  or  women  still 
unmarried  of  that  age,  and  thus  they  reach  what  may  be 
called  a refined  marriage-rate  or  the  probability  of  marriage 
for  each  age.  The  following  table  shows  the  number  of 
men  or  women  marrying  per  1000  men  or  women  unmarried 
in  each  age  class  (eight  German  states,  1872-80): 


15-20 

Age  Class. 
20-25  25-30 

30-40 

40-50 

50-60  60  and  over. 

Among  men  . 

. 0.2 

42. 

152. 

141. 

77. 

32.  6.6 

Among  women 

. 12.0 

97. 

146. 

90. 

30. 

6.  0.6 

It  appears  from  this  that  the  chance  of  an  unmarried 
man  to  marry  is  greatest  from  the  age  of  25  to  30,  but  is 
very  nearly  as  great  from  30  to  40.  The  chance  of  an 
unmarried  woman  to  marry  is  greatest  from  the  age  of  25 
to  30,  and  is  much  less  in  the  periods  above  and  below.  ^ 
Marriage  according  to  Conjugal  Condition.  If  we  analyse 
marriages  according  to  the  condition  of  people  marrying, 
that  is,  whether  they  have  ever  been  married  before  or  not, 
^Statistik  des  Deutschen  Reichs,  Neue  Eolge,  No.  44,  p.  49*. 


108 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


we  find  that  from  75  to  85  per  cent  are  between  bachelors 
and  maids;  3.5  to  5 per  cent  are  between  bachelors  and 
widows  ; 8 to  10  per  cent  are  between  widowers  and  maids; 
and  2.5  to  5 per  cent  are  between  widowers  and  widows. 

The  number  of  first  marriages  shows  very  considerable 
regularity  in  different  countries,  but  there  are  some  differ- 
ences of  combination  in  the  later  ones.  Austria  and 
Bavaria  have  a very  large  proportion  of  second  marriages, 
that  is,  where  one  of  the  parties  has  been  widowed.  In 
all  countries  there  are  more  marriages  between  widowers 
and  maids  than  between  widows  and  bachelors.  Mar- 
riages between  divorced  persons  make  up  only  a small 
proportion  of  the  total,  because  of  the  small  number  of 
divorced  people.  Here  also,  as  in  the  case  of  widowhood, 
the  man  has  a better  chance  of  remarrying  than  the 
woman.  In  Saxony  11  per  cent  of  the  divorced  men 
married  again,  against  5 per  cent  of  the  divorced  women. 
In  Prussia  the  most  common  combination  was  between  a 
divorced  man  and  a maid,  the  next  between  a divorced 
woman  and  a bachelor,  and  the  least  common  was  where 
both  parties  had  been  divorced.  ^ 

The  above  figures  show  the  distribution  of  marriages. 
If  we  take  the  persons  who  contract  marriage  according 
to  their  conjugal  condition,  we  shall  find  that  out  of  100 
bachelors  marrying,  about  95  choose  maids,  and  5,  widows 
or  divorced  women  ; of  100  widowers,  about  75  marry 
maids,  and  25,  widows  or  divorced  Avomen ; of  100  maids, 
about  88  take  bachelors,  and  about  12,  widowers  or  divorced 
men  ; of  100  widows,  about  60  marry  bachelors,  and  about 
40,  Avidowers  or  divorced  men.  The  proportion  of  bach- 
elors marrying  maids  remains  about  the  same,  but  the 
other  combinations  are  subject  to  wide  A^ariations.  Pecu- 
liarities are  that  in  Hungary  widoAvers  marry  widows 

1 In  the  large  cities  of  Prussia  the  number  of  marriages  where  one  or 
both  of  the  parties  had  been  divorced  was  exceptionally  large,  1881=2.49 
per  cent.  Zeitschrift  des  Preuss.  Stat.  Bureaus,  1882,  p.  235. 


MARRIAGES. 


109 


in  more  than  one-half  of  the  cases,  and  widows  marry 
widowers  in  nearly  70  per  cent  of  the  cases.  On  the  other 
hand,  in  Sweden  and  Norway  widowers  marry  widows  in 
less  than  20  per  cent  of  the  cases,  and  widows  marry  wid- 
owers in  less  than  40  per  cent.  These  variations  can  be 
explained  only  by  national  customs  and  habits  of  life. 

Probability  of  Marriage  according  to  Conjugal  Condition. 
From  the  above  figures  it  would  seem  that  in  by  far  the 
largest  number  of  marriages  one  of  the  parties  is  either 
bachelor  or  maid.  This  is  perfectly  natural,  because,  of  the 
people  of  marriageable  age  and  still  unmarried,  by  far  the 
greatest  portion  consists  of  bachelors  and  maids.  This 
shows  nothing,  therefore,  as  to  the  frequency  of  marriage 
among  the  four  different  classes,  bachelors,  maids,  widow- 
ers, and  widows,  or,  as  we  have  chosen  to  call  it,  the  proba- 
bility of  marriage  for  persons  in  each  of  these  conditions  in 
life.  That  probability  is  represented  by  the  number  of  per- 
sons of  each  class  getting  married  per  1000  persons  of 
that  class  over  15  years  of  age.  Maids  have  a better 
chance  than  widows,  but  widowers  in  many  countries  have 
a greater  probability  than  bachelors.  (See  next  table.) 

Probability  of  Marriage  by  Conjugal  Condition  and  Age. 
The  probability  of  marriage  may  still  further  be  studied 
according  to  the  ages  of  persons  in  each  of  the  four  differ- 
ent conjugal  classes.  The  following  table  (England,  1880- 
82)  shows  the  number  of  persons  marrying  per  1000  of 
each  conjugal  condition,  and  in  each  age  class  : ^ 


Ages. 

Bachelors. 

Spinsters. 

Widowers. 

Widows. 

15  to  20 

4.6 

21.5 

- 

56.6 

20  to  25 

106.8 

121.9 

193.0 

155.3 

25  to  35 

112.4 

80.6 

246.5 

114.6 

35  to  45 

40.5 

26.3 

157.8 

50.2 

45  to  55 

14.3 

10.4 

76.9 

18.6 

55  to  65 

4.4 

2.5 

33.9 

5.4 

65  and  over .... 

1.0 

0.4 

66.0 

0.6 

All  ages  .... 

55.8 

56.9 

58.2 

18.2 

1 Jour.  Stat.  Soc.  1890,  p.  273.  E or  other  examples  see  Farr,  Vital  Statistics, 
pp.  79  and  80,  and  Statistik  des  Deutschen  Reichs,  No.  44,  p.  53*  and  p.  172. 


110 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


A close  examination  of  this  table  shows  that  widowers 
have  a better  chance  of  marrying  than  bachelors  at  all 
ages,  but  that  the  chance  becomes  better  with  increasing 
age.  On  the  contrary,  widows,  as  a whole,  have  much 
less  chance  of  marrying  than  spinsters,  notwithstanding 
the  fact  that  at  each  age  widows  have  a better  chance  of 
marrying.  That  the  frequency  of  marriage  is  less,  on  the 
whole,  among  widows  than  among  spinsters,  is  due  to  the 
large  number  of  the  latter  in  the  younger  ages  compared 
with  the  former. 

Mixed  Marriages  between  Persons  of  Different  Religious 
Confession^  Race,  or  Nationality . The  general  tendency 
is  for  persons  of  the  same  religion,  race,  or  nationality  to 
marry,  simply  because  they  are  brought  into  relation  with 
each  other  and  marriage  follows  naturally.  In  former 
times  the  clergy  discouraged  marriage  with  persons  of 
other  religious  confession,  and  race  and  national  preju- 
dice prevented  intermarriage  between  different  races  and 
nationalities.  In  modern  times  these  prejudices  have 
been  very  much  softened  if  not  done  away  with,  and  mar- 
riages between  persons  of  different  religion  or  nationality 
are  not  infrequent.  Race  seems  still  to  be  an  obstacle 
where  the  difference  is  marked  by  colour. 

As  a rule,  persons  of  the  same  religious  confession  marry. 
In  Prussia,  during  the  period  1875-90,  94.77  per  cent  of 
the  Protestant  men,  88.20  per  cent  of  the  Catholic,  and 
94.79  per  cent  of  the  Jewish,  married  women  of  the  same 
religious  confession.  Marriages  between  Christians  and 
Jews  form  in  the  marriages  of  Jewish  men  5.21  per  cent, 
and  among  Jewish  women  5.23  per  cent,  of  the  cases.  On 
account  of  the  small  number  of  Jewish  brides  and  bride- 
grooms, such  mixed  marriages  form  only  a small  propor- 
tion of  the  total  number  of  marriages  of  Protestant  and 
Cathobc  men  and  women.  Catholic  men  seem  to  be  the 
most  liberal  in  contracting  mixed  marriages,  especially  with 
Protestant  women.^ 

1 Zeitschrift  des  Preuss.  Bureaus,  1891,  p.  197. 


MARRIAGES. 


Ill 


Mixed  marriages  between  persons  of  different  nation- 
ality are  not  very  common  in  Europe  compared  with  the 
total  number  of  marriages,  because  of  the  small  number 
of  foreigners  present  in  the  country.  Some  statistics  from 
France  for  1891  show  that  more  than  one-fourth  of  the 
Germans  marrying  there  married  German  wives,  while 
about  one-half  married  French  wives.  On  the  other  hand, 
more  than  one-half  of  the  German  women  married  French 
husbands.  About  the  same  proportions  are  true  of  the 
English.  Two-thirds  of  the  Belgians  marry  women  of 
the  same  nationality ; about  one-third  of  the  Italians  and 
about  one-sixth  of  the  Swiss  marry  women  of  the  same 
nationality.  In  all  these  cases  the  foreign  women  are 
more  disposed  to  marry  French  men  than  foreign  men  are 
disposed  to  marry  French  women. ^ 

It  is  in  the  United  States  that  we  have  the  greatest 
mixture  of  nationalities,  and  it  is  here  that  we  should  ex- 
pect to  find  some  facts  in  regard  to  intermarriage.  The 
very  fact,  also,  that  among  the  immigrants  there  is  always 
an  excess  of  males,  while  among  the  native-born  there  is 
often  a local  excess  of  females,  would  lead  us  to  expect 
intermarriage.  Our  statistics  of  marriage,  unfortunately, 
are  very  incomplete,  and  give  no  indication  of  the  nation- 
ality of  bride  and  bridegroom.  We  have  some  indirect 
information  in  the  statistics  of  mixed  parentage.  In  Mas- 
sachusetts in  1885,  6.17  per  cent  of  the  total  population, 
comprising  119,741  persons,  were  the  offspring  of  mar- 
riages between  natives  and  foreigners.  Of  these,  67,656 
had  father  foreign-born  and  mother  native,  while  52,085 
had  native  father  and  foreign  mother.  There  was  also 
some  intermarriage  between  foreigners  of  different  nation- 
ality. The  Tenth  Census  made  the  interesting  deduction 
that  in  those  portions  of  the  country  where  a single  nation- 
ality was  numerously  represented,  as,  for  instance,  the 
Irish  in  New  York  city,  there  was  little  intermarriage 
1 Zeitschrift  des  Preuss.  Bureaus,  1893,  S.  C.  IV. 


112 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


with  other  nationalities.  But  where  the  nationality  was 
not  numerously  represented,  as  the  Irish  in  St.  Louis, 
there  was  a greater  tendency  among  the  men  to  marry 
native-born  women,  or  women  of  other  nationality. 

Marriages  between  Blood  Relations.  These  are  not  very 
frequent,  but  have  always  been  of  interest  on  account  of 
the  physiological  questions  supposed  to  be  connected  with 
them.  They  are  generally  less  than  one  per  cent  of  all 
the  marriages,  and  as  a rule  are  more  frequent  in  the 
country  than  in  the  city.  Very  few  countries  make  com- 
plete returns.  The  following  table  shows  the  number  per 
1000  marriages : ^ 


COOTTET. 

First 

cousins. 

Uncle  and 
niece. 

Nephew 
and  aunt. 

Together. 

Prussia,  1877-80  . . 

00 

0.70 

0.18 

8.7 

Bavaria  “ . . 

. . 8.6 

0.82 

0.35 

9.8 

Italy,  1872-80  . . . 

. . 6.6 

0.57 

0.09 

7.3 

France  “ . . 

. . 10.6 

0.60 

0.23 

11.4 

Fecundity  of  Marriage.  The  fecundity  or  fruitfulness 
of  marriage  is  of  the  greatest  importance,  for  upon  it 
depends  the  increase  of  population.  In  order  to  measure 
it  exactly  we  should  take  each  married  couple  and  record 
the  number  of  children  born  during  marriage.  This  would 
require  ordinarily  a period  of  say  20  years  and  extremely 
accurate  statistics.  It  is  impossible  to  attain  such  per- 
fection, and  in  order  to  judge  of  the  comparative  fruitful- 
ness of  marriage  in  different  countries,  we  have  recoiu’se 
to  cruder  methods.  One  is  to  divide  the  total  nmnber  of 
children  born  in  the  year  by  the  number  of  marriages  con- 
summated that  year.  Of  course  the  births  in  any  one 
year  are  not  due  to  the  marriages  of  that  year.  But  if 
tlie  number  of  marriages  did  not  increase,  such  a di'sdsion 
would  represent  pretty  accurately  the  average  fecvmdity. 
In  most  countries,  however,  the  absolute  number  of  mar- 
riages is  increasing  rapidly,  so  that  the  births  of  this  year 

1 Statistik  des  Deutschen  Eeiclis,  No.  44,  p.  53*. 


MARRIAGES. 


113 


represent  the  fruitfulness  of  a less  number  of  marriages 
than  those  of  this  year.  It  is  therefore  desirable  to  divide 
the  number  of  births  by  the  marriages  of  some  previous 
year.  Dr.  Farr  calculated  that  the  interval  between  the 


mean  age  of  mothers  at  marriage  and  their  mean  age  at 
the  births  of  their  children  is  about  six  years.  Hence,  if 
the  legitimate  births  of  a given  year  be  divided  by  the 
marriages  of  six  years  earlier  date,  the  quotient  will  be 
the  proportion  of  children  to  a marriage.  This  gives  a 
slightly  larger  average  than  the  cruder  method.  An  ex- 
ample of  the  two  methods  is  shown  in  the  following  table, 
where  the  first  column  gives  the  number  of  births  divided 
by  the  marriages  of  six  years  previous,  while  the  second 
column  shows  the  number  of  births  divided  by  the  number 
of  marriages  of  the  same  year.  The  ordinary  number  of 
children  to  a family  varies  from  three  in  France,  to  five 
in  Ireland  and  Italy. ^ 


1876. 

1888. 

Births  to  marriages 

Births  to  marriages 

six  years  previous. 

of  same  year. 

Italy 

....  5.15 

4.5 

Ireland  .... 

....  5.00 

4.8 

Prussia  .... 

....  4.92 

4.1 

Sweden  .... 

....  4.84 

4.3 

Holland  .... 

....  4.83 

4.1 

England  .... 

....  4.63 

3.9 

Belgium  .... 

....  4.48 

3.9 

Spain 

....  4.47 

4.5 

Denmark .... 

3.7 

Austria  .... 

....  3.73 

3.9 

Prance  .... 

....  3.42 

3.0 

A second  method  of  measuring  the  fecundity  of  mar- 
riage is  by  comparing  the  number  of  births  with  the  num- 
ber of  women  of  child-bearing  age.  This  has  already  been 
referred  to  in  the  chapter  on  Births,  as  giving  a truer 
standard  of  comparison  than  the  ordinary  birth-rate.  In 
order  to  show  the  fruitfulness  of  marriage,  we  take  the 
legitimate  children  and  compare  the  number  of  births  in 

1 Newsholme,  Vital  Statistics,  p.  51,  Levasseur,  Pop.  fran§aise,  III.,  191. 


114 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


any  one  year  with  the  number  of  married  women  of  15  to 
50  years  of  age.  Some  of  the  results  are  shown  in  the 
following  table  : ^ 


Births  to  1000 
married  women 
15  to  50  years 
of  age. 

Holland  ....  310 

Belgium  ....  289 

Norway  ....  268 

Switzerland  . . . 259 

Austria  ....  258 


Italy  . . . 

Births  to  1000 
married  women 
15  to  50  years 
of  age. 

. . 254 

Sweden  . . 

. . 248 

Denmark  • . 

. . 241 

France  • . . 

. . 174 

This  table  shows  the  very  considerable  variations 
between  different  countries.  In  Holland,  for  instance,  lUOO 
married  women  of  the  age  15  to  50  bear  310  children  per 
annum,  while  in  France  1000  married  women  of  the  same 
age  bear  only  174  children. 

In  regard  to  fruitfulness  at  various  ages  we  have  data 
from  a few  countries  giving  the  number  of  births  per  anmun 
for  1000  married  women  of  each  age  class  as  follows  : 


15-20 

20-25 

25-30 

30-35 

35-40 

40-45 

45-50 

Eight  German  States . 

593 

504 

405 

299 

221 

102 

13 

Denmark  .... 

729 

491 

391 

315 

240 

120 

13 

Sweden  • . . . . 

537 

476 

384 

334 

262 

157 

24 

Norway 

263 

413 

395 

3-54 

301 

187 

43 

Finland 

408 

415 

369 

328 

268 

155 

27 

It  is  seen  from  this  table  how  much  the  fruitfulness  of 
the  younger  age  classes  excels  that  of  the  upper,  although 
there  are  very  considerable  variations  from  country  to 
country.  It  is  not  true,  however,  that  the  mere  age  of 
the  married  women  is  the  controlling  influence  in  the 
number  of  births.  If  that  were  true  we  should  find  the 
birth-rate  heaviest  in  those  countries  where  the  largest 
proportion  of  married  women  is  in  the  lower  age  classes. 
This  is  not  always  the  case.  In  some  countries,  as,  for 
instance,  in  Sweden  and  Denmark,  a low  birth-rate  corre- 
sponds to  a small  proportionate  number  of  married  women 


1 Statistik  des  Deutsclien  Keichs,  No.  44,  p.  56*. 


MARRIAGES. 


115 


under  30  years  of  age.  In  Holland  and  Belgium,  on  the 
other  hand,  with  a similarly  small  proportionate  number  of 
married  women  of  that  age,  the  birth-rate  is  considerable. 
In  Italy,  and  especially  in  France,  although  the  number 
of  such  women  is  large,  the  birth-rate  is  small.  AH  this 
goes  to  show  that  the  fruitfulness  of  marriage  is  controlled 
by  social  as  well  as  physiological  causes. 

In  Prussia  there  are  statistics  of  the  fruitfulness  of  mar- 
riage according  to  the  religious  confession  of  the  parents. 
These  statistics,  which  have  been  continued  for  a long 
series  of  years,  show  that  marriages  between  Christians 
and  Jews  result  in  a very  small  number  of  children. 
From  1875  to  1890,  there  were  born  to  each  marriage  of 
Protestants,  4.35  children,  to  each  marriage  of  Catholics, 
5.24  children,  to  each  marriage  of  Jews,  4.21  children. 
But  when  the  husband  was  a Jew  and  the  wife  a Protes- 
tant or  Catholic,  the  number  was  only  1.58  and  1.38  ; 
when  the  wife  was  a Jewess  and  the  husband  a Prot- 
estant or  Catholic,  the  number  was  1.78  and  1. 66.  Whether 
this  small  fruitfulness  of  mixed  marriages  is  due  to  differ- 
ences of  blood  or  to  social  reasons  is  uncertain.  ^ 

In  Massachusetts  they  have  made  some  attempt  to 
determine  the  relative  fruitfulness  of  the  native  and 
foreign-born  population.  These  figures  do  not  rest  on  the 
statistics  of  births,  but  on  the  census  statistics  in  regard  to 
the  family.  It  appeared  in  the  census  of  1885,  that  of  aU 
the  married  women  in  Massachusetts  17.56  per  cent  had 
never  had  children.  Of  the  native-born  married  women 
it  was  20.18  per  cent,  while  of  the  foreign-born  mar- 
ried women  it  was  only  13.27  per  cent.  Of  the  foreign- 
born  married  women,  among  the  Irish  only  11.57,  among 
the  French  Canadians  11.66,  and  among  the  Germans  only 
11.16  per  cent  had  never  had  children.  These  figures 
would  seem  to  indicate  that  the  fruitfulness  was  greater 
among  the  foreign  than  among  the  native-born.  The 
1 Zeitschrift  des  Preuss.  Stat.  Bureaiis,  1891,  p.  196,  1892,  p.  32. 


116 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


same  census  seemed  to  show  that  the  foreign-born  women 
had  a larger  number  of  children  than  the  native-born,  for 
the  average  number  of  children  to  the  foreign-born  mar- 
ried women  was  5.22,  while  to  the  native-born  married 
women  it  was  only  3.37.  This  figure  is  inconclusive 
because  the  total  number  of  children  which  have  been 
born  depends  upon  the  length  of  time  during  which  mar- 
riage has  existed,  and  unless  the  proportions  were  the 
same  among  the  two  classes  the  figures  would  not  be  com- 
parable. Another  interesting  fact  is  that  while  the  foreign- 
born  women  have  the  largest  number  of  children,  they 
lose  a larger  number  by  death.  The  number  of  living 
children  among  the  foreign-born  women  was  only  3.46, 
while  among  the  native-born  married  women  it  was  2.41. 
While  the  native-born,  therefore,  have  a less  number  of 
children,  more  survive.^ 

In  Prussia  they  have  studied  the  fecundity  of  marriage 
according  to  the  occupation  of  the  father.  Men  change 
their  occupation  sometimes  (as  servants  become  inn- 
keepers), so  that  the  statistics  are  not  altogether  exact. 
The  highest  fruitfulness  was  shown  by  agriculturists, 
miners,  and  clergymen — more  than  five  children  to  a mar- 
riage. Next  came  labom-ers,  factory-hands,  men  engaged 
in  transportation,  etc.  The  lowest  number  was  among 
artists,  literary  men,  and  the  higher  professions.  These 
figures  must  be  used  with  great  care,  for  all  classifications 
of  occupation  are  doubtful,  and  many  other  infiuences 
affect  the  result.^ 

Dissolution  of  Marriage.  Marriage  is  dissolved  either 
by  the  death  of  one  of  the  parties,  or  by  divorce.  The 
former,  of  course,  is  the  more  frequent,  and  the  death  of  the 
husband  is  more  frequently  the  occasion  than  that  of  the 
wife,  because  husbands  are,  as  a rule,  older  than  their 
wives.  Out  of  100  marriages  dissolved  by  death  there 

1 Census  of  Massachusetts,  1885,  p.  ciii. 

2 Zeitschrift  des  Preuss.  Bureaus,  1889,  p.  193. 


MAREIAGES. 


117 


were  in  Denmark  55.3,  in  Norway  53.4,  and  in  six  German 
states  56.2  due  to  the  death  of  the  husband.  In  England, 
Dr.  Farr  declared  that  the  mean  age  at  marriage  being  25 
years,  the  mean  time  that  such  a couple  survives  is  27 
years,  which  represents  the  duration  of  married  life.  The 
further  mean  life-time  of  the  survivor  is,  in  case  of  the 
husband,  9.44  years,  and  in  case  of  the  wife  11.31  years. 
In  Prussia  (1867-81)  the  average  length  of  married 
life  was  22.4  years.  Where  the  husband  died  first  the 
average  length  was  23.2 ; where  the  wife  died  first  it  was 
21.5  years.  This  less  duration  of  married  life  where  the 
wife  dies  first  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  marriages  of  short 
duration  are  apt  to  be  those  broken  by  the  death  of  the 
wife  from  the  dangers  of  child-birth.  Marriages  which 
have  stood  five  years  are  more  apt  to  be  broken  thereafter, 
especially  during  the  following  20  years,  by  the  death 
of  the  man.^  Some  later  statistics  for  the  three  German 
states,  Prussia,  Bavaria,  and  Oldenburg  are  a little  different, 
but  show  the  same  general  course  of  events.  Out  of  100 
marriages  dissolved  by  death  the  following  table  shows 
how  long  they  had  lasted,  and  compares  the  length  of 
those  dissolved  by  the  death  of  the  husband  with  those 
dissolved  by  the  death  of  the  wife.^ 


Dissolved  by 

Dissolved  by 

Dtjkation  of  Marriage. 

death  of  the 

death  of  the 

husband. 

wife. 

Average. 

5 years  and  under  . . 

9.4 

14.1 

11.6 

Over  6 to  10  years  . 

11.7 

13.8 

12.6 

Over  10  to  15  years 

12.2 

12.4 

12.3 

Over  15  to  20  years  . 

11.6 

10.3 

11.0 

Over  20  to  25  years  . 

11.8 

9.7 

10.9 

Over  25  to  30  years  . 

11.3 

9.6 

10.6 

Over  30  to  35  years 

10.6 

9.5 

10.1 

Over  35  to  40  years 

8.3 

7.9 

8.1 

Over  40  to  45  years  . 

6.7 

6.4 

6.6 

Over  45  to  60  years  . 

3.9 

3.8 

3.9 

Over  50  years  . . . 

2.5 

2.5 

2.5 

Sum 

100.0 

100.0 

100.0 

1 Zeitschrift  des  Preuss.  Bureaus,  1882,  p.  242. 

2 Statistik  des  Deutschen  Reichs,  No.  44,  p.  184. 


118 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


This  table  shows  the  greater  frequency  of  the  marriages 
of  short  duration  which  are  broken  by  the  death  of  the 
wife.  It  also  shows  an  almost  steady  progress  in  the 
dissolution  of  marriage. 

Dissolution  of  Marriage  hy  Divorce.  It  is  difficult  to 
determine  the  exact  number  of  divorces  because  of  the 
difference  in  law  in  different  countries,  some  granting 
full  divorce  with  liberty  to  marry  again,  and  others 
granting  simply  separation.  The  following  table  shows 
in  the  first  column  the  absolute  number  for  the  year  1885, 
and  in  the  second  column  the  number  per  100,000  of  the 
population  in  1886.^ 


COVNTKY. 

Total 

Number  per  100,000 

number. 

of  the  population. 

Prance 

6,245 

32.51 

Germany 

. 6,161 

25.97 

Austria 

1,718 

- 

Eussia 

1,789 

- 

Switzerland 

920 

64.49 

Denmark 

635 

- 

Italy 

556 

3.75 

Eoumauia 

541 

- 

Great  Britain  and  q 

508 

(•3.79 

Ireland  J ' ' ‘ 

1 .28 

Belgium 

290 

- 

Holland 

339 

- 

Sweden 

229 

- 

Norway 

68 

- 

Australia 

100 

11.14 

Canada  

12 

4.81 

United  States 

23,472 

88.71 

Total 

43,583 

It  appears  from  this  table  that  there  are  more  divorces 
in  the  United  States  than  in  all  other  countries  put 
together,  and  that  the  divorce-rate  is  higher  than  in 
any  other  country.  In  1870  there  were  155  divorces, 

1 Willcox,  The  Divorce  Problem,  and  A Study  in  Vital  Statistics,  Polit- 
ical Science  Quarterly,  1893.  Eeport  of  the  Commissioner  of  Labour, 
1889,  Marriage  and  Divorce. 


MAERIAGES. 


119 


and  in  1880,  203  divorces,  to  100,000  married  couples. 
In  1870,  3.5  per  cent  of  the  marriages  were  terminated 
by  divorce;  in  1880,  4.8  per  cent;  and  in  1890,  6.2  per 
cent.  Divorce  is  more  frequent  among  the  blacks  than 
among  the  whites ; less  frequent  among  Catholics  than 
among  Protestants ; less  frequent  among  the  foreign- 
born  than  among  the  natives.  The  city  divorce-rate  is 
greater  than  the  country  and  increases  more  rapidly. 
The  duration  of  marriage  before  dissolved  by  divorce 
was  on  the  average  9.17  years,  but. 

One-fourth  of  the  divorces  came  within  3.42  years 


One-third 

(( 

(( 

4.36 

44 

One-half 

U 

4( 

6.56 

44 

Two -thirds 

a 

44 

9.66 

44 

Three-fourths 

u 

44 

11.83 

44 

Nearly  two- thirds  of  the  divorces  were  granted  on 
demand  of  the  wife.  The  causes  alleged  were  : deser- 
tion, 40.15  per  cent ; adultery,  21.45  per  cent ; cruelty, 
16.35  per  cent ; drunkenness,  4.40  per  cent ; neglect  to 
provide,  2.52  per  cent ; imprisonment,  0.87  per  cent ; 
combination  of  general  causes,  11.23  per  cent ; local  and 
minor  causes,  3.03  per  cent.  It  does  not  appear  from 
statistics  that  divorced  men  and  women  are  more  disposed 
to  remarry  than  widowers  and  widows. 


Scientifie  Tests. 

Method  of  Observation.  We  may  repeat  here  the  re- 
marks made  in  the  chapter  on  Births,  as  to  the  method 
of  observation  necessary  in  order  to  get  good  statistics  of 
marriages.  A single  census  of  the  number  of  people 
married  within  the  year  is  utterly  untrustworthy  because 
of  the  omissions  due  to  deaths,  migration,  and  careless- 
ness about  dates.  Each  marriage  should  be  registered 
at  the  time  it  is  celebrated  and  the  various  facts  of  socio- 
logical interest,  such  as  the  age,  conjugal  condition,  and 


120 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


occupation  of  the  two  parties,  should  be  ascertained. 
Marriage  is  such  an  important  event  and  has  such  impor- 
tant legal  consequences  in  domestic  relations  and  the 
transmission  of  property  that  its  registration  should  be 
compulsory.  In  old  times  marriages  were  celebrated  in 
churches,  and  the  church  registers  give  us  more  or  less 
complete  statistics.  With  the  establishment  of  differ- 
ent religious  denominations,  and  of  civil  marriages,  the 
church  registers  are  no  longer  adequate.  For  instance,  in 
England,  at  the  end  of  1891,  there  were  15,044  churches 
or  chapels  belonging  to  the  Established  Church  in  which 
marriages  could  be  solemnized,  and  10,781  buildings  regis- 
tered for  marriage  by  other  rites  than  those  of  the 
Established  Church.  Of  1000  marriages,  699  were  cele- 
brated according  to  the  rites  of  the  Established  Church, 
42  in  registered  places  belonging  to  Roman  Catholics, 
118  in  registered  places  belonging  to  other  Christian 
denominations,  0.3  according  to  the  rites  of  the  Quakers, 
4.6  among  the  Jews,  and  136  were  civil  marriages  in 
Superintendent  Registrar’s  Office.^  In  such  a condition 
of  things,  with  marriage  celebrated  in  so  many  different 
places  and  by  such  a variety  of  officers,  no  dependence 
can  be  placed  upon  voluntary  registration,  and  so  com- 
pulsory registration  with  penalty  attached  for  non-com- 
pliance with  the  law  is  necessary. 

In  the  United  States  the  statistics  of  marriage,  like 
those  of  births  and  deaths,  are  very  incomplete.  The 
Eleventh  Census  put  into  its  list  of  questions  the  inquiry 
“ Married  during  census  year,”  with  the  hope  of  supply- 
ing this  deficiency.  But  such  a method  is  very  crude 
and  can  give  us  no  complete  or  accurate  knowledge. ^ 
The  whole  matter  is  one  that  pertains  to  the  states,  and 

1 Rep.  Registrar  General,  1891. 

2 The  total  number  married  during  the  year  was  730,562  : males,  368, 
809  ; females,  361,763.  This  would  give  a marriage-rate  of  only  11.6  per 
1000,  which  is  evidently  absurd. 


MARRIAGES. 


121 


the  way  in  which  the  states  perform  this  duty  is  described 
by  Commissioner  Wright  as  follows  : ^ 

“ It  is  to  be  regretted  that  while  this  report  is  practically  complete 
as  regards  divorces,  it  is  thoroughly  incomplete  and  unsatisfactory 
so  far  as  marriages  are  concerned.  Very  few  states  have  any  regis- 
tration system  by  which  marriages  are  recorded.  . . . Licenses  are 
recorded  on  various  bases  and  under  various  conditions,  and  there 
is  little  compulsory  law  relative  to  the  returns  of  marriages  cele- 
brated. In  some  states  the  number  of  licenses  issued  greatly  exceeds 
the  number  of  marriages  celebrated.  In  some  other  quarters  the 
number  of  marriages  celebrated  greatly  exceeds  the  number  of  licenses 
issued.  This  may  occur  on  account  of  conditions  of  law,  as,  for 
instance,  in  some  counties  in  Maryland,  marriages  celebrated  exceed 
the  licenses  issued,  and  in  others  the  reverse  is  true.  The  reason  of 
this  is  that  marriage  may  take  place  either  under  license  or  publica- 
tion of  bans ; so  if  those  under  licenses  were  well  reported,  or  those 
under  bans  were  many,  they  might  together  exceed  the  number  of 
licenses  ; and  if  poorly  reported  or  but  few  occurred  under  bans  they 
might  be  considerably  less  than  the  licenses.  It  will  be  readily 
understood  that  no  records,  under  such  a condition,  can  be  very 
valuable.” 

Basis  for  Comparison.  It  has  already  been  remarked 
that  the  so-called  marriage-rate,  that  is,  the  number  of 
marriages  or  of  persons  marrying  per  1000  of  the  popula- 
tion, is  not  an  altogether  scientific  method  of  comparing 
the  marriages  of  different  countries.  The  reason  for  this 
is  that  one  population  may  have  a larger  proportion  of 
children  and  non-marriageable  persons  than  another.  This 
would  make  a great  difference  in  the  marriage-rate.  A 
better  standard  would  seem  to  be  the  number  of  marriasre- 
able  persons,  who  are  not  yet  married.  Such  a compari- 
son has  already  been  made  on  page  101,  under  the  head  of 
Probability  of  Marriage.  The  employment  of  the  refined 
marriage-rate  changes  considerably  the  order  of  the  dif- 
ferent countries  as  regards  the  frequency  of  marriage.  The 
crude  marriage-rate,  therefore,  would  seem  to  be  a very 
inadequate  method  for  comparing  the  frequency  of  mar- 

1 Marriage  and  Divorce,  1889,  p.  18. 


122 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


riage  in  different  countries  or  in  different  portions  of 
the  same  country.  The  reason  for  employing  it  is  that 
it  is  easier  to  calculate.  It  is  not  easy  to  ascertain 
for  years  between  censuses  the  exact  number  of  unmarried 
persons  above  the  age  of  fifteen,  which  is  the  standard 
for  the  refined  marriage-rate.  For  whole  countries  the 
ehanges  from  year  to  year  will  probably  be  indicated 
with  sufiicient  accuracy  by  the  crude  marriage-rate,  because 
the  constitution  of  a large  population  by  age  and  con- 
jugal condition  changes  slowly. 

Particular  Tests.  The  distribution  by  age  and  conjugal 
condition  is  the  most  important  factor  whose  influence 
must  be  considered  in  comparing  the  marriage -rates  of 
different  communities.  But  in  studying  the  marriage- 
rate  of  small  communities  eare  should  always  be  taken  to 
consider  local  circumstances  which  may  affect  the  mar- 
riage-rate. The  relative  proportion  of  the  sexes,  the 
number  of  domestic  servants,  the  presence  of  religious 
houses,  social  customs,  military  conscription,  all  of  these 
may  have  special  influence  on  the  marriage-rate.  Dr. 
Ogle,  for  instance,  explains  the  high  marriage-rate  in  Bed- 
fordshire by  the  great  extent  to  which  young  women  are 
employed  in  certain  industries,  and  are  thus  able  to  earn 
money  and  contribute  to  the  family  expenses.  It  has 
generally  been  supposed  that  the  age  of  marriage  was 
determined  among  men  by  economie  condition,  and  among 
women  by  their  maturity.  Dr.  Ogle’s  theory  would  seem 
to  show  that  economic  condition  may  be  a factor  among 
women  also. 

In  considering  the  influence  of  natural  conditions  upon 
such  a phenomenon  as  marriage,  care  must  be  taken  to 
explain  the  facts  if  possible  by  social  influences.  Thus  in 
tracing  the  frequency  of  marriage  according  to  seasons, 
the  influence  of  social  and  religious  festivals  is  probably 
greater  than  any  natural  influence.  Becker  has  stfll 
fm’ther  pointed  out  that  in  large  cities  the  habit  of  chang- 


MAEEIAGES. 


123 


ing  the  domicile  at  certain  fixed  periods,  or  of  making 
contracts  for  service  for  certain  fixed  periods  terminating, 
for  instance,  the  first  of  May  or  the  first  of  November,  might 
be  sufficient  to  influence  the  marriage-rate.  For  the 
marriage  would  not  be  celebrated  until  the  contract  had 
expired,  or  until  the  new  domicile  had  been  taken  posses- 
sion of  by  the  family.  It  behooves  us,  therefore,  before 
attributing  sudden  changes  in  marriage-rates  to  natural 
influences  or  even  to  general  social  causes,  to  eliminate  all 
local  causes  which  can  be  detected. 

With  these  provisos  and  under  these  conditions  it  would 
seem  as  if  marriage  were  a social  phenomenon  peculiarly 
fitted  for  the  statistical  method.  There  is  no  valid  reason 
why  every  marriage  and  every  dissolution  of  marriage 
should  not  be  accurately  registered,  with  full  details  of 
the  time  and  circumstance  and  the  demographic  condition 
of  the  participants.  Births  may  be  coneealed  and  deaths 
wrongly  classified,  but  marriage  is  generally  an  important 
event  of  adult  life,  easily  ascertainable,  and  with  little 
motive  for  concealing  or  falsifying  the  facts.  At  the 
same  time,  it  is  of  so  much  importance  in  social  life  that 
it  either  influences  or  is  influenced  by  almost  all  other 
social  actions.  The  scientific  collection,  tabulation  and 
comparison  of  statistics  of  marriages  is  one  of  the  most 
important  parts  of  statistical  science. 

Reflective  Analysis. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  dilate  here  upon  the  importance 
of  marriage  to  the  social  condition  of  any  community. 
It  has  important  influence  on  population,  although  there 
is  no  fixed  proportion  between  the  marriage-rate  and 
birth-rate.  We  have  seen  in  the  case  of  France  that 
while  the  marriage-rate  is  about  that  of  the  rest  of 
Europe,  the  birth-rate  is  very  low.  But  marriage  in  itself 
has  great  social  significance.  It  forms  the  family  and 
influences  the  social  condition  of  its  members.  Fluctua- 


124 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


tions  in  the  marriage-rate  are  therefore  an  important 
index  of  the  economic  and  social  prosperity  of  the  com- 
munity. Although  the  old  relation  between  the  marriage- 
rate  and  the  price  of  corn  has  become  obscured  by  the 
great  complexity  of  modern  industrial  relations,  yet  there 
is  no  doubt  that  the  former  is  an  index  of  economic  pros- 
perity. The  great  problem  is  to  find  the  phenomenon 
which  is  the  best  barometer  of  industrial  life  with  which 
to  compare  it. 

Marriage  and  Population.  The  way  in  which  marriage 
affects  population  is  somewhat  interesting  to  follow  out. 
A possible  effect  might  be  produced  either  by  decreasing 
the  number  of  marriages,  or  by  advancing  the  age  at 
which  people  marry.  In  Europe  the  marriage-rate  seems 
to  be  slowly  decreasing,  f.e.,  the  number  of  celibates  is 
increasing.  The  decrease  is  so  small,  however,  that  it 
has  very  little  effect  on  population.  Dr.  Ogle  estimates 
that  the  number  of  children  per  marriage  (4.2)  remain- 
ing the  same,  it  would  be  necessary  to  reduce  the  English 
marriage-rate  from  the  lowest  rate  ever  recorded  (14.1) 
to  7.8  per  1000,  in  order  to  reach  a stationary  population. 
That  is  to  say,  nearly  one-half  of  the  people  who  now 
marry  would  have  to  remain  single. 

An  advancing  age  at  marriage  might  retard  population 
in  three  ways  : (1)  because  there  would  be  a less  number 
of  persons  to  get  married,  say  at  the  age  of  30  than  at  25 ; 
(2)  the  child-bearing  period  would  be  somewhat  dimin- 
ished ; and  (3)  the  interval  between  generations  would  be 
increased.  The  most  important  influence  would  seem  to 
be  the  second,  and  an  increasing  age  of  women  at  mar- 
riage Avould  probably  have  an  effect  on  the  number  of 
births.  The  difficulty  is  that  the  clfild-bearing  period  is 
indefinite,  and  although  a woman  is  probably  less  fertile 
as  she  advances  in  age,  yet  the  period  is  so  long  that  there 
is  still  time  to  bear  the  average  number  of  children.  Dr. 
Ogle  estimates  that,  if  the  age  of  all  women  at  marriage 


MAREIAGES. 


125 


were  advanced  five  years,  the  child-bearing  period  and 
presumably  the  number  of  births  would  be  diminished  by 
26.6  per  cent.  Even  then  we  should  have  in  England  a 
birth-rate  of  23.3  per  1000,  which  is  5.5  per  1000  in  excess 
of  a perfectly  attainable  death-rate.  When  we  remem- 
ber that  from  1873  to  1888  the  average  age  of  spinsters 
marrying  increased  by  only  six  months,  we  see  how  im- 
possible it  is  to  expect  a stationary  population  either  from 
an  increase  in  celibacy  or  from  advanced  age  in  marriage. ^ 
Artificial  restraints  compelling  celibacy  or  deferring 
marriage  very  long  would  probably  not  restrain  popula- 
tion, but  would  simply  destroy  social  morality.  Certainly 
a sound  sociology  would  not  advocate  such  a course. 

We  may  demand,  as  in  the  study  of  Births,  whether 
there  are  sociological  laws  governing  the  number  of  mar- 
riages from  year  to  year.  Marriage  is  a peculiar  phe- 
nomenon. It  is  partly  dependent  on  physiological  laws, 
as  the  impulse  to  get  married  is  in  response  to  a natural 
desire,  and  the  time  of  getting  married  is  governed  pri- 
marily by  age.  It  is  at  the  same  time  a psychological 
and  social  phenomenon,  for  there  are  purely  social  influ- 
ences leading  to  marriage,  and  the  choice  of  time  and 
circmnstance  is  in  the  hands  of  the  individual  although 
he  may  be  governed  by  considerations  of  economic  expedi- 
ency and  of  public  opinion.  We  should  expect,  therefore, 
to  find  a phenomenon  preserving  a general  regularity  in 
its  movement  and  yet  subject  to  considerable  fluctuations. 
And  we  find  the  marriage-rate  answering  to  this  description 
perfectly.  If  we  take  a long  period,  say  1841-85,  in  Ger- 
many the  average  marriage-rate  was  16.39.  The  average 
annual  variation  from  this  marriage-rate  was  only  6.48 
per  cent.  This,  of  course,  does  not  prove  that  there  were 
no  greater  variations  from  year  to  year,  but  that  the 
variations  often  balanced  each  other.  If  we  take  a 
smaller  territory  the  variation  is  more  considerable,  as,  for 
1 Jour.  Stat.  Soc.  1890,  pp.  270  and  279. 


126 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


instance,  in  most  of  the  smaller  German  states  it  is  10  per 
cent.  And  where  the  population  is  homogeneous,  as  in 
cities,  the  variation  is  more  considerable,  — in  Hamburg  it 
was  11.86  per  cent,  and  in  Bremen  12.07  per  cent.  This 
is  because  any  cause  affecting  particularly,  say  the  indus- 
trial class,  would  not  be  offset  by  some  other  influence 
affecting  other  classes  in  a counterbalancing  way. 

The  regularity  for  all  Germany,  however,  is  something 
very  peculiar.  And  it  is  more  striking  from  the  fact  that  the 
marriage-rate  has  on  the  whole  been  declining  during  the 
period.  Marriage  therefore  may  be  looked  upon  as  one  of 
the  great  natural  social  phenomena  whose  movement  we 
can  to  a certain  extent  explain  and  even  predict.  It  is 
not  so  regular  and  constant  as  births  and  deaths.  While 
the  annual  average  variation  from  the  average  in  the  case 
of  marriages  was  6.48  per  cent,  for  births  it  Avas  only  3.98 
per  cent  and  for  deaths  only  3.90  per  cent.  Marriage  is 
thus  probably  more  subject  to  individual  caprice  than  the 
other  two. 

What  the  influenee  of  natural  causes  on  marriage  may 
be,  it  is  difSeult  to  determine.  Climate  seems  to  have 
little  influence,  unless  it  be  in  the  earlier  maturity  of 
women,  leading  to  earlier  marriages.  Still  there  is  a 
curious  geographical  concentration  of  high  marriage -rates 
about  Hungary,  Austria,  and  the  eastern  proAunces  of 
Prussia,  thence  decreasing  on  the  north  and  west,  which 
is  difficult  to  explain.  The  influence  of  the  seasons  is 
but  dimly  felt. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  influence  of  great  social  causes  is 
evident  in  all  the  statistics  of  marriages.  The  effect  of 
war  and  bad  times  in  decreasing,  of  economic  prosperity 
in  increasing  the  marriage-rate,  shows  how  the  natural 
desire  to  get  married  is  controlled  by  the  faA'Ourable  or 
unfavourable  opportimity.  That  the  man  is  older  than 
the  woman  is  due  to  the  fact  that  in  our  ciAulization  the 
man  is  largely  responsible  for  the  support  of  the  family. 


MAKRIAGES. 


127 


and  hence  must  attain  full  wages  or  a secure  position 
before  he  marries.  The  woman  either  adds  nothing  to  the 
money  income  or  her  addition  is  only  supplementary,  and 
hence  she  need  not  wait  until  attaining  economic  inde- 
pendence before  being  married.  That  widowers  have  a 
greater  probability  of  getting  married  than  bachelors  is 
doubtless  due  to  their  better  economic  position.  That 
widows  have  less  chance  than  maids  and  marry  less  often 
than  widowers  is  again  due  to  the  fact  that  widowhood 
often  leaves  them  without  the  means  of  support,  or  per- 
haps burdened  with  children.  The  more  advanced  age 
at  which  the  upper  classes  marry  compared  with  the 
lower  shows  the  effect  of  ambition  and  prudence  in  one,  of 
contentment  and  perhaps  improvidence  in  the  other. 

Are  these  influences  strong  enough  to  destroy  the 
notion  of  the  freedom  of  will  on  the  part  of  the  individual 
in  contracting  marriage?  We  cannot  say.  The  great 
social  movement  goes  on,  governed  and  influenced  by 
general  causes  working  through  the  individual.  That  the 
mass  of  the  people  are  controlled  by  these  great  influences 
is  shown  by  the  recurring  regularities  in  the  statistics  or 
in  their  variations.  How  much  room  there  is  left  for  the 
exercise  of  choice  on  the  part  of  the  individual  it  is 
difficult  to  say. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


DEATHS. 

Sociological  Purpose. 

Next  to  birth  the  most  important  phenomenon  in 
human  life  is  death.  It  is  also  of  great  sociological 
significance.  Upon  the  relation  of  births  to  deaths 
depends  the  increase  of  population,  with  all  its  conse- 
quences for  the  strength  and  prosperity  of  the  commu- 
nity. Upon  the  character  of  this  relation  depends  the 
social  character  of  the  increase.  For  the  same  net  increase 
may  be  attained  either  by  a large  birth  and  death-rate  or 
by  the  conjunction  of  a small  birth  and  death-rate.  When 
one  considers  the  economic,  social,  and  moral  interests 
connected  with  the  bearing  and  rearing  of  children,  the 
difference  between  these  two  methods  of  increase  becomes 
fundamental  for  the  type  of  society.  In  fact  we  are  apt 
to  think  of  the  former  as  characteristic  of  barbarous  and 
half-civilized  conditions,  and  of  the  latter  as  more  or  less 
the  ideal  aimed  at  by  civilization.  And  although  a large 
birth-rate  may  often  be  consistent  with  national  prosper- 
ity, a large  death-rate  always  demands  explanation. 
Death  is  always  a loss  and  a misfortune.  The  compara- 
tive death-rate  is  therefore  an  index  of  the  relative 
civilization  of  countries,  an  index  which  needs  to  be  used 
with  care,  but  which,  when  once  established,  appeals  with 
almost  irresistible  force  to  the  imagination  and  the  under- 
standing. Man  will  not  believe  it  to  be  a good  country 
to  live  in  where  human  beings  are  born  simply  to  be  swept 
away  like  flies  at  the  end  of  the  summer. 

128 


DEATHS. 


129 


In  the  same  way  in  any  particular  country  the  death- 
rate  is  looked  upon  as  an  index  of  the  condition  of  the 
community  from  year  to  year,  of  the  healthfulness  of 
different  localities  and  occupations.  Wars,  epidemics, 
and  economic  adversity  show  themselves  in  an  increased 
death-rate  during  the  year  or  in  the  years  following ; 
while  economic  prosperity,  peace,  and  social  morality  are 
marked  by  a slowly  decreasing  death-rate.  The  death- 
rate  tests  the  circumstances  under  which  men  live.  It 
discloses  the  evil  influences  of  city  life.  It  reveals  the 
dangers  accompanying  civilization.  In  other  words, 
wherever  a circumstance  or  a condition  can  be  shown  to 
produce  an  increased  mortality,  such  circumstance  or 
condition  is  at  once  condemned.  There  is  no  appeal 
from  the  decision  if  the  fact  be  once  established.  So  the 
death-rate  is  watched  eagerly,  in  order  to  detect  the  result 
of  sanitary  legislation  or  other  measures  intended  to  pro- 
mote the  health  of  the  community. 

The  death-rate  thus  has  important  connections  with  all 
the  social  interests  of  the  people.  As  Dr.  Farr  quaintly 
said  more  than  twenty  years  ago  : 

“ How  the  people  of  England  live  is  one  of  the  most  important  ques- 
tions that  can  be  considered;  and  how  — of  what  causes,  and  at  what 
ages  — they  die  is  scarcely  of  less  account ; for  it  is  the  complement 
of  the  primary  question  teaching  men  how  to  live  a longer,  healthier, 
and  happier  life.  . . . There  is  a relation  betwixt  death  and  sick- 
ness ; and  to  every  death  from  every  cause  there  is  an  average  number 
of  attacks  of  sickness,  and  a specific  number  of  persons  incapacitated 
for  work.  . . . There  is  a relation  betwixt  death,  health,  and 
energy  of  body  and  mind.  There  is  a relation  betwixt  death,  birth, 
and  marriage.  There  is  a relation  betwixt  death  and  national  pri- 
macy : numbers  turn  the  tide  in  the  struggle  of  population,  and  the 
most  mortal  die  out.  There  is  a relation  betwixt  the  forms  of  death 
and  moral  excellence  or  infamy ; men  destroy  themselves  directly  or 
their  fellows  under  the  most  varied  mental  conditions,  they  may  die 
by  indulgences  in  excesses,  by  idleness,  or  by  improvidence.”  i 


1 Vital  Statistics,  p.  116. 


130 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


Tliis  is  simply  saying  that  the  statistics  of  death  have 
relation  to  all  other  social  statistics.  The  death-rate 
varies  according  to  sex,  age,  and  conjugal  condition.  It 
varies  in  different  climates,  according  to  seasons,  among 
different  races,  in  city  and  country,  in  different  occupa- 
tions. Death  is  the  concomitant  of  crime,  of  vice,  of 
poverty,  and  of  misery.  It  is,  on  the  other  hand,  often  an 
index  of  the  resisting  power  of  the  community  in  times  of 
economic  distress  and  hardship.  Where  the  death-rate 
fluctuates,  going  up  and  down  with  every  change  of  social 
conditions,  it  shows  that  the  community  has  but  little 
resisting  power  against  the  forces  of  nature.  Where,  on 
the  other  hand,  a community  has  reached  a stable  and  self- 
contained  position,  it  rides  over  these  calamities  without 
suffering  the  extreme  penalty  which  the  other  commmiity 
pays. 

Death  in  itself  is  a pure  process  of  nature,  hut  the  time 
and  circumstances  are,  to  a certain  extent  at  least,  under 
the  control  of  man.  He  can  adapt  himself  to  every  climate ; 
he  can  resist  the  extremes  of  heat  and  cold ; he  can  take 
precautions  against  accidents  and  disease;  — in  other  words, 
his  life  is  partially  in  his  own  hands.  The  statistics  of 
mortality  under  different  circumstances  show  us  the  suc- 
cess or  ill  success  which  accompanies  man’s  struggle 
for  life.  The  statistics  of  deaths  at  successive  ages,  the 
calculation  of  the  mean  mortality  and  of  the  average 
length  of  life,  show  us  with  what  success  the  community 
at  large  is  guarding  its  vital  force. 

The  sociological  purpose  of  statistics  is  to  follow  out 
the  relation  of  death  to  all  these  other  social  phenomena. 
We  are  to  place  the  statistics  in  such  a way  as  to  show 
the  influences  mentioned  above.  We  are  to  seek  every- 
where to  disengage  the  constant  and  inevitable  influence 
of  natm’e  from  the  transient  and  remediable  influence  of 
social  condition  and  environment,  for  the  purpose  of  in- 
dicating the  possibility  of  social  amelioration.  We  are  to 


DEATHS. 


131 


discuss  the  question  how  far  the  astonishing  regularity  in 
the  death-rates  for  successive  years  proves  that  death  is  a 
pure  process  of  nature,  and  how  far  the  irregularities  show 
us  the  influence  of  varying  social  conditions.  In  other 
words,  as  in  all  vital  statistics,  we  seek  to  reach  back  of 
the  mere  phenomena  to  the  real  underlying  causes. 

Statistical  Data. 

Deaths  are  commonly  expressed  by  means  of  a death- 
rate,  that  is,  the  number  of  deaths  per  annum  for  each 
1000  of  the  population.  This  crude  death-rate  is  open  to 
criticism,  as  we  shall  see  later  on,  but  it  is  sufficiently 
accurate  for  large  populations  or  for  the  study  of  the  same 
population  from  year  to  year.  The  deaths  (still-born 
excluded)  per  1000  of  the  population  are  shown  in  the 
following  table 

Average  1871-90. 


1891. 

1892. 

1893. 

Hungary  (15  years) 

. . 33.7 

33.1 

35.0 

31.1 

Austria  .... 

. . 30.6 

27.9 

28.8 

- 

Italy 

. . 28.6 

26.2 

26.3 

25.3 

Germany  (19  years) 

. . 26.0 

23.4 

24.1 

24.6 

Prussia  .... 

. . 25.6 

22.9 

23.4 

24.2 

France  .... 

. . 22.8 

22.6 

22.6 

- 

Holland  • . . . 

. . 22.6 

20.7 

21.0 

19.2 

Switzerland  . . 

. . 22.1 

20.8 

19.3 

20.5 

Belgium  .... 

. . 21.4 

21.0 

21.8 

20.3 

Scotland .... 

. . 20.4 

20.7 

18.5 

19.4 

England  and  Wales 

. . 20.3 

20.2 

19.0 

19.2 

United  Kingdom  . 

. . 19.9 

20.0 

19.0 

19.1 

Denmark  . . . 

. . 19.0 

20.0 

19.4 

18.9 

Ireland  .... 

. . 18.0 

18.4 

19.4 

17.9 

Sweden  .... 

. . 17.6 

16.8 

17.9 

- 

Norway  .... 

. . 16.9 

17.5 

17.8 

16.4 

The  above  table 

shows  wide 

differences  in 

the  death- 

rate,  — Hungary  with  its  33.7  per  1000  being  almost 
double  Norway  with  its  16.9.  Austria,  Italy,  and  Ger- 
many, including  Prussia,  all  seem  to  have  a heavy  death- 

1 Kegistrar  General,  England,  Keport  1893. 


132 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


rate  for  the  period  1871-90,  but  since  then  the  rate  has 
declined.  France  stands  about  midway  in  the  death-rate, 
while  it  stood  lowest  in  the  birth-rates.  Ireland,  which 
had  a very  feeble  birth-rate,  has  also  a feeble  death-rate. 

Influence  of  Qlimate  and  Creographical  Position.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  climate  has  enormous  influence  upon 
mortality.  There  are  some  places  where  it  is  impossible 
for  human  beings  to  live.  In  tropical  climates,  while  the 
native  thrives,  the  foreigner  succumbs.  All  these  things, 
however,  are  generally  matters  of  particular  observation 
and  do  not  enter  into  general  statistics.  The  most  inter- 
esting question  in  this  connection  is  that  of  acclimation, 
that  is,  whether  by  continued  residence  foreigners  can 
accustom  themselves  to  a climate  which  at  first  is  fatal. 
Our  statistics  are  not  sufficiently  accurate  to  indicate  that 
it  is  impossible  for  Europeans  to  become  permanently 
acclimated  in  the  tropics,  but  they  do  show  that  it  is  a 
matter  of  extreme  difficulty.  The  death-rate  for  the 
British  army  at  home  in  1891  was  4.7,  abroad  13.5,  per 
1000.  Older  statistics  show  that  out  of  a thousand 
soldiers  stationed  in  Ceylon,  44  died  the  first  year,  48  the 
second,  and  49  the  third  ; of  1000  stationed  in  J amaica,  77 
died  the  first  year,  87  the  second,  and  93  the  third ; of 
1000  in  Guiana,  77  died  the  first  year  and  the  number 
increased  steadily  till  the  tenth  year,  when  it  was  140. 
These  figures  seem  to  show  that  the  longer  the  soldiers  are 
kept  abroad  the  greater  the  mortality. 

Mere  geographical  position  does  not  seem  to  be  a de- 
termining factor  in  the  distribution  of  death-rates.  It  is 
true  that  we  find  the  highest  death-rate  in  the  east  of 
Europe,  a moderate  one  in  the  centre,  and  the  lowest  in 
Northern  Europe.  A somewhat  similar  distribution  was 
observed  in  the  birth-rates,  and,  generally,  hea^y  death- 
rates  accompany  heavy  birth-rates.  Both  are  due  more  to 
general  social  influences  than  to  mere  geographical  position. 

Influence  of  Race  and  Religion.  The  influence  of  race 


DEATHS. 


133 


is  also  obscured  by  that  of  social  and  economic  condition. 
The  high  death-rates  prevalent  in  Russia  and  the  Slavonic 
provinces  of  Prussia  and  Austria  would  seem  to  show 
greater  mortality  among  the  Slavs  than  among  Germanic 
nations,  but  this  is  probably  economic  condition  rather 
than  race  influence. 

In  the  United  States  the  census  of  1890  gives  a death- 
rate  of  17.  for  native-born  whites  of  native  parentage, 
24.42  for  native-born  whites  of  foreign  parents,  19.85  for 
foreign-born  whites  and  19.57  for  the  coloured.  The  ex- 
cessive rate  among  the  native-born  whites  of  foreign 
parentage  is  due  to  the  large  number  of  children  in  that 
class.  The  death-rate  of  the  coloured  is  a trifle  less  than 
that  of  all  the  whites,  but  in  the  cities  the  death-rate  of 
the  coloured  is  34.52,  while  that  of  the  whites  is  23.22. 

Jews  show  everywhere  a small  death-rate.  Thus  in 
Bavaria  in  1876,  the  death-rate  for  Protestants  was  25.5, 
for  Catholics  32.2,  for  Jews  18.8,  average  for  the  whole 
country  30.3.  The  low  rate  for  Jews  is  due  partly  to 
their  lower  birth-rate.  In  Prussia  it  was  shown,  that 
while  they  were  13.25  per  mille  of  the  population,  they 
were  only  7.28  per  mille  of  those  dying  under  the  age  of 
15,  and  11.16  per  mille  of  those  dying  over  the  age  of  15. 
This  shows  the  preponderance  of  the  Jews  in  the  upper 
age  classes. 

Density  of  Population  and  Death-rate.  It  has  often 
been  supposed  that  the  density  of  population  had  an  influ- 
ence upon  the  death-rate,  but  no  such  influence  is  trace- 
able for  whole  countries.  Belgium,  which  has  a very 
dense  population,  has  a very  low  death-rate,  but  Norway, 
with  a sparse  population,  has  a still  lower  rate.  If  we 
take  the  provinces  of  Prussia  for  the  period  1841-85,  a 
period  sufficiently  long  to  obliterate  exceptional  influences, 
and  compare  the  average  death-rate  with  the  density  of 
population,  the  highest  death-rate  (42  per  mille)  is  found 
in  the  thinly  peopled  agricultural  provinces  of  the  East ; 


134 


STATISTICS  AJSnD  SOCIOLOGY. 


but  a low  death-rate  (30  per  mille)  is  found  in  the  equally 
agricultural  region  of  Schleswig-Holstein,  while  the 
thickly  peopled,  industrial  Silesia,  Westphalia,  and  Rhine- 
land have  a medium  death-rate  (36  per  mille). 

If  we  take  smaller  areas,  there  seems  to  be  some  relation 
between  density  of  population  and  mortality.  Dr.  Farr 
believed  that  he  had  discovered  an  exact  formula  for  this 
relation.  However  this  may  be,  if  we  divide  the  popula- 
tion of  England  into  urban  and  rural,  classifying  under 
the  former  all  towns  of  3000  inhabitants  or  over,  we  shall 
always  find  a higher  death-rate  in  the  former  than  in  the 
latter.  For  the  decade  1881-90,  while  the  death-rate  for 
all  England  was  19.1,  for  urban  districts  it  was  20.3, 
while  for  rural  districts  it  was  only  17.3,  that  is,  the  mor- 
tality in  towns  was  to  the  mortality  in  the  country  as  117 
to  100.^  The  true  difference  between  urban  and  rural 
mortality  is  greater  than  this,  if  due  allowance  be  made 
for  age  and  sex  distribution.  There  is  in  towns  a large 
proportion  of  females  and  of  adults,  and  a small  propor- 
tion of  very  aged  persons.  There  is  the  slightl}’’  counter- 
balancing influence  of  a large  number  of  infants  in  towns, 
but  this  is  followed  by  an  increase  of  young  persons,  whose 
death-rate  is  very  low,  so  that  general  mortality  in  towns 
should  be  less  than  in  rural  districts. ^ The  method  for 
eliminating  this  disturbing  factor  will  be  considered  under 
the  head  of  Scientific  Tests. 

Mortality  in  Cities.  If  density  were  the  only  factor 
determming  the  increase  of  mortality,  then  the  death-rate 
in  cities  ought  always  to  be  much  greater  than  in  the 
country.  But  when  we  compare  city  with  country  mor- 
tality there  are  many  things  to  be  considered.  In  cities 
we  have,  as  already  mentioned,  a favourable  age  classifica- 
tion ; we  have,  as  a rule,  better  medical  assistance,  hospitals, 
free  dispensaries,  and  in  some  cities  the  water  supply  and 

1 Registrar  General,  England,  1891,  p.  Ivii. 

2 Newsholme,  Vital  Statistics,  p.  137. 


DEATHS. 


135 


sanitation  are  better  than  in  small  villages  or  country 
districts.  On  the  other  hand,  there  are  many  things 
tending  to  increase  mortality  in  large  cities,  such  as  pov' 
erty,  crowded  tenement  houses,  filth  and  neglect  of  sani- 
tary precautions,  vice,  crime,  drunkenness,  and  accidents. 
As  a consequence,  if  we  compare  city  with  city,  we  do  not 
find  that  the  death-rate  increases  either  with  the  popula- 
tion or  with  the  density.  Some  cities  have  a larger  death- 
rate  than  the  average  for  the  whole  country,  and  some 
have  a smaller.  Thus  in  England  and  Wales,  in  1887,  the 
death-rate  for  the  whole  country  was  19.1,  for  28  large 
towns  it  was  20.8.  But  for  Manchester  it  was  28.7,  for 
Preston  27.9,  for  Newcastle  25.3,  and  for  Blackburn  25.5; 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  for  Brighton  it  was  only  16.9, 
for  Derby  17.1,  and  for  Nottingham  18.7,  all  below  the 
average,  while  even  for  London  it  was  only  19.6.^ 

In  Germany  the  cities  seem  to  have  a somewhat  greater 
death-rate  than  the  average,  but  not  markedly  so.  For 
successive  periods  the  rates  were  as  follows  : 

1S71-75.  1878-SO.  lSSO-85. 

In  great  cities 31.5  29.5  27.5 

The  empire 29.5  27.8  27.2 

It  will  be  seen  that  in  the  last  period  the  death-rate  in  the 
cities  was  only  slightly  higher  than  in  the  Empire  at  large. 
The  cities  of  Germany  vary  widely  in  tins  respect.  Some 
of  them,  such  as  Munich,  Konigsberg,  Breslau,  and  Chem- 
nitz, have  a high  death-rate,  varying  between  31.6  and 
33.2.  On  the  other  hand,  in  Frankfort  the  death-rate 
was  only  19.7,  in  Hanover  21.9,  in  Bremen  21.8,  in  Stutt- 
gart 23.5,  in  Leipsic  24.1,  and  even  in  Berlin  it  was  only 
27.8.2  It  is  probable  that  all  these  death-rates  would  be 
raised  if  due  regard  were  paid  to  the  sex  and  age  distribu- 
tion. Nevertheless,  the  example  of  Germany  seems  to 
show  that  we  can  have  city  populations  with  a very  low 
death-rate. 

1 Newsholme,  op.  cit.,  p.  143  *Allg.  Stat.  ArcMv,  1890,  p.  164. 


136 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


The  reason  for  the  higher  death-rate  in  cities  is  not  the 
density  itself,  hut  the  circumstances  which  accompany  it. 
In  Scotland,  it  was  found  that  Aberdeen,  which  has  only 
13.6  per  cent  of  its  population  living  in  one  room  to  a 
family,  has  the  lowest  death-rate  of  eight  great  Scotch 
towns,  the  death-rate  rising  pari  passu  with  the  diminu- 
tion of  size  of  the  average  house,  until  we  come  to  Glasgow, 
with  24.7  per  cent  of  its  population  living  in  one  room  and 
the  highest  death-rate. 

In  comparing  the  24  districts  of  Glasgow,  the  same  gen- 
eral relation  was  demonstrated.  For  those  living  in  one 
and  two  room  houses  the  death-rate  was  27.74  per  1000 ; 
in  houses  of  three  and  four  rooms,  19.45  ; and  in  houses 
of  five  rooms  and  upwards  only  11.23.  In  an  investiga- 
tion made  in  regard  to  “ back-to-back  ” houses  in  England, 
it  was  found  that  the  greatest  mortality  was  in  those  dis- 
tricts which  contained  an  average  proportion  of  over  50  per 
cent  of  such  houses,  while  the  lowest  mortality  was  found 
where  there  were  none.^ 

Various  attempts  have  been  made  to  distinguish  differ- 
ent rates  of  mortality  in  different  quarters  of  the  same  city 
according  to  density  of  population.  In  Paris,  for  instance, 
the  Elysee  and  the  Opera,  rich  quarters,  had  only  13.4 
and  16.2  deaths  per  1000,  while  Menilmontant,  a poor 
quarter,  had  31. 3. ^ In  Berlin  they  distinguish  the  deaths 
according  to  the  storey  of  the  house  where  the  deceased 
lived.  The  statistics  were  not  entirely  complete,  but  in 
1880  the  mortality  was  shown  to  be  greater,  as  a rule,  in 
the  cellars  and  the  garrets  than  in  the  other  stories,  and 
greater  in  the  rear  than  in  the  front  tenements.  Probably 
poverty  of  the  inmates  had  as  much  to  do  with  it  as  the 
inferiority  of  the  tenement  itself.® 

Death-rates  in  Successive  Periods  of  Time.  If  we  take 

1 Newsholme,  Vital  Statistics,  pp.  140,  155. 

*Levasseur,  Pop.  fran^aise,  II.,  p.  403. 

® Stat.  Jahrbuch  der  Stadt  Berlin,  Jahrgang  IX.,  p.  36. 


DEATHS. 


137 


the  average  death-rates  by  decades  there  is  often  a won- 
derful regularity.  In  France,  for  instance,  the  rates  for 
the  successive  decades  from  1840  to  1880  were  23.3, 
23.9,  23.6,  and  23.6.  But  from  year  to  year  we  find  con- 
siderable fluctuations.  In  England  we  have  a death-rate 
beginning  with  21.7  in  1842,  going  as  high  as  25.1  in 
1849,  and  as  low  as  18.9  in  1881  and  18.1  in  1888,  and 
then  re-ascending  to  20.2  in  1891.  In  Germany  we  have 
a death-rate  of  26.4  in  1841-45,  ascending  to  29.3  in 
1848,  descending  to  23.7  in  1860,  and  ascending  to  30.8  in 
1866,  then  decreasing  to  23.4  in  1891. 

Effect  of  War  on  Deaths.  The  variations  in  the  death- 
rate  from  year  to  year  are  brought  about  either  by  war, 
epidemics,  and  hard  times,  or  the  reaction  from  them. 
The  effect  does  not  always  show  itself  immediately,  for 
the  privation  may  result  at  first  in  simply  weakening 
the  physical  strength  and  leading  to  disease  and  death 
later.  During  a war  period  the  death-rate  commonly 
increases.  In  Prussia,  for  instance,  in  1865  it  was  29.2, 
in  1866  it  rose  to  35.9,  and  in  1867  sank  again  to  28.1.^ 
In  Germany  the  effect  of  the  war  of  1871  was  only  slightly 
felt,  the  death-rate  in  18C.  being  28.5;  in  1870,  29.0; 
in  1871,  31.0  ; from  which  point  it  steadily  decreased.^  In 
France,  on  the  other  hand,  the  death-rate,  which  in  1869 
was  only  23.4,  rose  to  28.3  in  1870,  and  to  34.8  in  1871, 
sinking  to  22  in  1872.® 

Influence  of  Scarcity  of  Food  upon  Deaths.  If  we  look 
back  in  history,  we  read  of  famines  and  dearths  which 
swept  away  large  fractions  of  the  population.  In  half- 
civilized  countries  like  India,  even  at  the  present  time, 
the  failure  of  the  principal  food  crop  is  the  immediate 
cause  of  the  death  of  millions  of  people.  In  civilized 
countries  absolute  famine  is  rarely  felt,  although  there 

1 Zeitschrift  des  Preuss.  Stat.  Bureaus,  1885,  p.  176. 

2 Stat.  Jahrbuch  fiir  das  Deutsche  Reich,  1890,  p.  14. 

®Levasseur,  La  Pop.  fran§aise,  II.,  pp.  9 and  149. 


138 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


may  be  scarcity  and  hardship.  Unless  the  dearth  is 
accompanied  by  some  epidemic  it  is  difficult  to  trace 
its  influence  on  the  death-rate  of  the  same  year.  The 
usual  effect  of  scarcity  of  food  is  through  deprivation  to 
cause  disease  and  weakness,  which  later  result  in  death. 
But  the  resulting  deaths  may  naturally  spread  themselves 
over  several  years.  Many  attempts  have  been  made  to 
connect  the  price  of  food  directly  with  the  death-rate. 
The  results,  however,  are  not  altogether  satisfactory.  For 
instance,  in  Germany  they  have  traced  the  price  of  rye 
and  the  corresponding  curve  for  deaths  from  1841  to 
1885.  During  the  first  10  or  15  years  there  is  close 
correspondence.  When  the  price  of  rye  rose  from  120 
marks  for  1000  kilos  in  1844  to  225  marks  in  1847,  the 
death-rate  rose  from  26  per  1000  in  1844  to  30.5  per  1000 
in  1848  ; and  when  the  price  of  rye  sank  to  its  former  level 
a year  later,  the  death-rate  also  resumed  its  usual  level. ^ 
W e have  here  a striking  example  of  the  effect  of  a sudden 
and  distressful  failure  of  the  food  supply.  But  the  next 
period  of  scarcity  in  1853-54  which  raised  the  price  of 
rye  even  higher  than  in  1847,  and  resulted  in  both  a 
decreased  marriage  and  birth-rate,  brought  about  a fluctu- 
ating death-rate,  which  rose  to  only  29.5  and  sank  imme- 
diately thereafter.  Since  that  time  the  price  of  rye  and 
the  death-rate  in  Germany  have  shown  no  direct  connec- 
tion with  each  other.  The  price  of  food  has  become 
only  one  faetor  in  the  economic  life  of  the  community. 

A detailed  study  of  deaths  in  connection  with  years  of 
searcity  points  to  some  interesting  facts.  It  is  said 
that  in  times  of  hardship,  at  first  men  suffer  more  than 
women,  because  they  are  exhausted  by  labour  and  have 
insufficient  nourishment ; when  the  scarcity  continues,  the 
strain  comes  upon  the  women.  In  Prussia  and  England 
it  would  seem  that  the  portion  of  the  people  engaged  in 
agrieulture  suffers  more  than  the  city  population  from  the 
1 Statistik  des  Deutschen  Keiclis,  Neue  Folge,  Bd.  44,  p.  20*. 


DEATHS. 


139 


high  price  of  food ; in  Belgium  the  reverse  seems  to  be  true. 
In  England  it  is  said  that  children  do  not  suffer  so  severely 
in  dear  years  as  usual,  — old  people  more.  This  probably 
comes  from  the  fact  that  little  is  gained  by  depriving  the 
child  of  food,  and  in  times  of  non-employment  of  the  parent 
the  child  receives  at  least  equal  care  and  attention  as  before. ^ 

Influence  of  Death-rate  on  Birth-rate.  It  is  sometimes 
assumed  that  a high  birth-rate  is  necessarily  followed  by  a 
high  death-rate.  This,  however,  is  not  true.  In  England 
from  1871  to  1892  there  were  five  years  in  which  the  birth- 
rate rose  ; in  three  of  these  cases  there  was  a rise  in  the 
death-rate,  in  two,  a fall.  In  Germany  during  the  same 
period  there  were  eight  years  in  which  the  birth-rate  rose 
and  in  only  three  was  there  a rise  in  the  death-rate. 

The  notion  that  an  increased  birth-rate  results  in  an 
increased  death-rate  is  founded  on  the  well-known  fact  of 
the  heavy  mortality  in  the  early  years  of  childliood.  And 
it  is  undoubtedly  true  that  a very  sudden  increase  in  the 
number  of  births,  by  increasing  the  relative  proportion 
of  young  children  in  a population,  would  be  apt  to  increase 
the  death-rate.  Dr.  Farr,  however,  has  pointed  out  that 
if  the  high  birth-rate  continues,  the  age  classes  from  10  to 
40,  where  the  mortality  is  the  least,  will  gradually  become 
well  filled,  so  that  the  death-rate  in  such  a population  will 
be  low,  notwithstanding  the  large  birth-rate.  It  must  be 
remembered  also  that  a large  birth-rate  ordinarily  implies 
a large  number  of  young  married  persons  who,  of  course, 
are  in  the  healthy  ages. 

It  seems,  therefore,  that  the  influence  of  the  birth-rate 
upon  the  death-rate  has  been  greatly  exaggerated.  The 
director  of  the  official  German  statistics,  after  comparing 
the  curve  of  births  and  deaths  during  a period  of  45  years 
comes  to  the  following  conclusion  : 

“ It  is  impossible  to  discover  any  connection  between  the  birth  and 
death-rates  in  the  sense  that  a high  birth-rate  corresponds  to  a high 

1 Weisz.  Einfluss  von  theueren  und  bUligen  Zeiten  auf  der  SterbUchkeit. 


140 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


death-rate  in  the  same  or  subsequent  year,  — as  one  might  expect  on 
account  of  the  great  infant  mortality.  Only  in  Bavaria,  where  the 
infant  mortality  is  particularly  large,  it  is  to  be  observed  that  the 
level  of  both  rates  is  higher  at  the  end  of  the  period  than  at 
the  beginning.  Otherwise  the  years  with  numerous  births  fall  more 
commonly  together  with  those  where  the  death-rate  is  low,  the  low 
birth-rates  with  the  high  death-rates,  or  the  low  birth-rates  follow  the 
high  death-rates.  This  seems  to  indicate  that  the  economic  prosperity 
of  the  year,  while  it  increases  the  birth-rate  decreases  the  death-rate.” 

Deaths  according  to  Seasons.  In  the  changes  of  seasons 
we  have  a natural  influence  which  has  a great  effect  upon 
the  health  of  man  and  hence  upon  mortality.  We  have 
here  a large  number  of  observations  which  are  commonly 
illustrated  by  tables  or  charts  showing  the  months  in 
which  the  death-rate  exceeds  or  is  less  than  the  average. 
The  distribution  varies  from  year  to  year,  as  an  epidemic  or 
some  unusual  cause  may  increase  the  rate  during  a particu- 
lar month.  But  for  the  same  country  the  general  course  of 
events  commonly  preserves  about  the  same  appearance. 

Characteristic  types  of  death  distribution  may  be  seen 
in  the  following  table,  where  Sweden  represents  a north- 
ern country,  Germany  and  France  countries  of  Central 
Europe,  and  Italy  a southern  country.  The  city  of 
Berlin  is  added  as  a type  of  a city  population.  If  the 
average  number  of  deaths  were  100  per  month  (1200  per 
year),  the  number  for  each  month  would  be  as  follows 
(1872-80): 


Sweden. 

Germany. 

France. 

Italy. 

Berlin. 

January  . 

112.5 

101.7 

105.0 

107.8 

89.0 

February 

113.3 

108.0 

111.3 

106.6 

88.3 

March 

110.7 

109.9 

108.2 

104.4 

90.2 

April  . . 

112.9 

105.8 

105.4 

94.2 

89.4 

May  . . 

111.4 

101.5 

98.1 

84.2 

92.0 

June  . . 

93.9 

94.2 

92.5 

84.9 

132.1 

July  . . 

84.9 

94.9 

92.1 

103.9 

144.7 

August  . 

79.5 

103.0 

100.8 

111.9 

116.0 

September 

79.8 

99.7 

100.7 

104.9 

101.4 

October  . 

88.1 

91.5 

92.8 

97.1 

89.1 

November 

102.1 

92.6 

94.2 

98.9 

81.8 

December 

111.8 

97.7 

99.4 

101.2 

85.2 

DEATHS. 


141 


In  a northern  country  like  Sweden  the  extreme  mortal- 
ity is  found  in  winter,  the  whole  summer  being  favour- 
able. In  Italy,  on  the  other  hand,  the  extreme  mortality 
is  found  in  summer,  there  being  a second  maximum 
in  winter.  Germany  and  France  have  the  maximum 
in  winter,  with  a tendency  to  a second  maximum  in 
summer.  A large  city  like  Berlin  resembles  a southern 
country,  with  the  maximum  in  summer.  This  is  undoubt- 
edly due  to  the  crowded  and  unsanitary  arrangements 
of  large  cities,  which  increase  the  mortality,  especially 
among  children,  during  the  hot  weather.  Of  the  other 
countries  of  Europe,  Austria,  Switzerland,  Holland,  and 
Belgium  resemble  Germany  and  France,  with  the  maxi- 
mum in  late  winter  and  early  spring,  and  a second  rising 
tendency  in  late  summer.  Denmark,  Norway,  Finland, 
and  Scotland  resemble  Sweden,  with  a single  maximiun 
in  winter.  Spain  resembles  Italy,  with  the  maximum  in 
late  summer,  but  without  the  second  rising  tendency  in 
winter.  1 

It  is  obvious  that  in  cold  countries  the  cold  weather 
is  the  most  dangerous,  while  in  warm  countries  warm 
weather  is  the  most  so.  This  may  sometimes  be  traced 
even  in  the  same  country  in  the  varying  severity  of 
winter  and  summer  in  different  years.  Thus  in  Olden- 
burg from  1831  to  1860,  if  we  represent  the  average 
mortality  by  1000,  then  the  mortality 
In  years  witli  cold  winter  and  warm  summer  would  te  repre- 


sented by 1065 

In  years  with  cold  winter  and  cold  summer  would  be  repre- 
sented by 1020 

In  years  with  warm  winter  and  warm  summer  would  be  repre- 
sented by 1007 

In  years  with  warm  winter  and  cold  summer  would  be  repre- 
sented by 944 


The  most  favourable  mortality  is  shown  when  the  winter 
is  warm  and  the  summer  cool,  and  the  extreme  mortality 
1 Statistik  des  Deutschen  Keichs,  No.  44.  pp.  80  and  205. 


142 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


when  both  winter  and  summer  show  extreme  tempera- 
tures.^ 

Deaths  according  to  Seasons,  combined  with  the  Ages 
of  the  Persons  dying.  The  seasons  affect  old  and  young 
differently.  In  countries  like  Germany  winter  is  most 
fatal  to  all  classes  except  the  infants  under  one  year  of 
age,  who  seem  to  be  protected  against  the  cold,  their 
greatest  mortality  falling  in  summer.  The  next  class, 
children  from  one  to  under  five  years  of  age,  have  an 
excessive  mortality  in  winter,  their  weak  organisms  not 
being  able  to  resist  the  extremes  of  cold.  From  that  age 
on,  the  extremes  of  temperature  have  less  influence,  and 
especially  during  the  age  20  to  40  the  death-rate  is  very 
evenly  distributed  throughout  the  year.  As  old  age 
comes  on  the  winter  cold  is  again  dangerous,  while  the 
summer  heat  is  favourable.  It  thus  appears  that  the  ex- 
tremes of  age  are  the  least  able  to  resist  the  influence 
of  temperature.  In  a southern  country  like  Italy  summer 
heat  is  particularly  dangerous  to  children  from  the  age 
of  one  to  five,  becoming  less  marked  with  increasing  age, 
until  after  the  age  of  40,  when  winter  is  most  dangerous 
and  summer  shows  a minimum. 

Deaths  according  to  Sex.  More  men  than  women  die 
every  year.  This  is  due  to  the  greater  general  mortality 
attending  the  life  of  the  male.  The  difference  is  vari- 
ously expressed.  Sometimes  we  have  the  number  of 
males  dying  to  100  females.  For  instance,  during  the 
period  1865  to  1877,  the  number  of  males  dying  to  100 
females  was  in  Denmark  102  ; Holland,  Sweden,  and  Nor- 
way, 104  ; Italy,  106  ; France,  and  England  and  W ales, 
107  ; Austria,  Hungary,  and  Switzerland,  108  ; Germany 
109  ; Servia,  110  ; Greece,  112 ; Roumania,  117.  The 
method  is  inadequate,  because  it  does  not  take  into  account 
the  relative  number  of  the  two  sexes.  For  instance,  in  the 
province  of  Westphalia  in  Prussia,  in  1890,  there  were 
1 Westergaard,  Mortalitat  und  Morbilitat,  p.  136. 


DEATHS. 


143 


110.9  men  dying  to  100  women,  but  in  that  province 
there  were  104.3  men  to  100  women;  in  Silesia,  there 
were  only  105.2  men  dying  to  100  women,  but  in  that 
province  there  were  only  90  men  to  100  women. 

The  second  and  only  scientific  method  is  to  calculate 
the  death-rate  per  1000  of  each  sex.  The  average  death- 
rate  (1872-80)  was  in  Italy,  males  30.6,  females  29.3; 
in  France,  males  23.2,  females  21.6  ; in  Ireland,  males 
18.8,  females  17.7  ; in  Great  Britain,  males  22.7,  females 
20.2;  in  Germany,  males  28.6,  females  25.3. 

Everywhere  the  male  death-rate  exceeds  the  female. 
There  are  some  striking  differences  pointing  to  important 
social  differences  in  the  condition  of  woman.  In  Italy, 
Holland,  France,  Denmark,  and  Ireland  the  female  death- 
rate  is  from  93  to  96  per  cent  that  of  the  male.  Probably 
in  these  countries  woman  participates  in  the  life  and  labour 
of  man,  and  is  exposed  to  the  same  dangers.  In  Switzer- 
land, Germany,  and  Great  Britain  the  females  are  less 
exposed  to  the  dangers  of  life,  and  the  female  death-rate 
is  only  about  88  per  cent  that  of  the  male.  There  is  a 
certain  correspondence  between  the  two  in  the  sense  that, 
where  there  is  a heavy  rate  for  one  sex,  there  is  a corre- 
spondingly heavy  one  for  the  other,  and  vice  versa. 

Deaths  according  to  Age.  It  is  well  known  that  mor- 
tality varies  according  to  age.  Sometimes  an  attempt  is 
made  to  show  this  by  simply  distributing  the  deaths 
according  to  ages.  This  method,  however,  is  utterly 
valueless,  because  there  is  always  a larger  number  of 
persons  in  the  lower  age  classes  than  in  the  upper,  and 
hence  a larger  number  of  deaths.  The  only  true  way  is 
to  compare  the  number  at  each  age  with  the  number  of 
persons  living  at  that  age,  that  is,  ascertain  the  death-rate 
at  each  age.  During  the  greater  part  of  life,  the  death- 
rate  changes  slowly  as  persons  grow  older.  It  is  highest 
in  infancy,  decreases  rapidly  until  about  the  age  of  ten. 
and  then  slowly  increases. 


144 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


Infantile  Mortality.  Mortality  among  small  children  is 
so  great  that  it  has  always  received  particular  attention 
from  statisticians.  Whenever  we  have  high  death-rates  it 
is  almost  always  caused  in  great  part  by  heavy  mortality 
during  early  years  of  life.  There  is  an  enormous  differ- 
ence among  countries  in  this  respect,  and  the  difference  is 
indicative  of  good  or  bad  sanitary  and  social  conditions. 
For  instance  : Out  of  100  born  living,  there  die  during  the 
the  first  year  : ^ 


In  Bavaria  .... 

30.6 

In  France  . . . 

. 16.6 

European  Russia  . 

29.6 

Great  Britain  . 

. 14.5 

West  Austria  . . 

25.6 

Denmark  . . 

. 13.8 

Italy 

21.4 

Sweden  . . . 

. 13.0 

Prussia  . . . . 

21.2 

Norway  . . . 

. 10.4 

Holland  . . . . 

20.3 

Ireland  . . . 

. 9.7 

In  this  table.  West  Austria,  Bavaria,  and  Russia  show 
a very  high  infant  mortality ; while  Norway,  Sweden, 
and  Denmark  have  a very  low  infant  mortality. 

The  causes  of  infantile  mortality  must  be  sought  for  in 
the  particular  locality.  Among  general  causes  are  pre- 
maturity of  birth  and  congenital  defects,  hereditary 
tendencies,  improper  food  and  methods  of  feeding,  in- 
fanticide and  accidental  deaths,  and  insurance  of  infants.^ 
It  is  a disputed  question  how  far  industrial  conditions 
affect  infant  mortality.  In  Germany  high  rates  are 
found  equally  in  agricultural  and  industrial  regions. 
The  highest  is  in  Southern  Bavaria  (37.2),  which 
is  an  agricultural  region.  In  England,  on  the  other 
hand,  infantile  mortalit}^  is  almost  invariably  greater  in 
towns  and  mining  districts  then  in  rural  counties.  If  we 
take  three  agricultural  counties,  Hertfordshire,  Wiltshire, 
and  Dorsetshire,  and  compare  them  with  three  manufac- 
turing towns,  Preston,  Leicester,  and  Blackburn,  we  have 
the  following  contrast.  Of  100,000  children  born  living, 

1 Statistik  des  Deutechen  Reicks,  No.  44.  p.  71*. 

*Newsholme,  Vital  Statistics,  p.  106. 


DEATHS. 


145 


there  survive  at  the  end  of  three  months  in  the  rural 
counties  94,820,  in  the  three  towns  only  90,874 ; at  the  end 
of  12  months  in  the  rural  counties  90,283,  and  in  the  three 
towns,  only  78,197.  The  reason  for  the  greater  mortality 
in  towns  is  found  in  their  crowded  and  unsanitary  condi- 
tion, the  spread  of  contagious  diseases,  the  drunkenness 
and  vice  of  parents,  and  the  employment  of  mothers  in 
factories.^ 

Infant  mortality  is  greater  among  the  lower  classes  than 
among  the  upper.  Two  methods  have  been  attempted 
for  proving  this.  One  is  to  take  the  infant  mortality  in 
different  quarters  of  the  city.  Thus,  in  Breslau,  it  was 
less  in  the  three  rich  quarters  than  in  the  three  poor  ones. 
This  method  is  very  general  because  no  definite  geo- 
graphical boundary  separates  the  poor  from  the  rich.  In 
Prussia  they  compare  the  infant  mortality  for  different 
social  classes.  It  is  rather  less  among  the  professional  and 
commercial  classes,  and  rather  greater  among  servants 
and  ordinary  labourers.  The  result  is  affected  by  the 
greater  mortality  among  illegitimates,  which  are  more 
numerous  among  the  lower  classes  than  the  upper.  The 
excessive  infantile  mortality  among  illegitimate  children 
has  been  everywhere  observed.  It  is  due,  of  course,  to 
the  neglect  of  the  child,  and  to  the  fact  that  almost  all 
foundlings  are  illegitimate.  Out  of  100  of  each  class  born 
living,  there  died  during  the  first  year  : ^ 


Legiti- 

Illegiti- 

Legiti- 

lUegiti- 

mate. 

mate. 

mate. 

inate. 

In  Austria  . 

. 24.5 

33.3 

In  Prussia  . . 

19.3 

34.8 

France  . 

. 15.5 

30.0 

Bavaria  . . 

29.4 

38.6 

Belgium . 

. 16.1 

26.2 

Wiirtemberg 

29.6 

36.4 

Norway  . 

. 9.9 

12.6 

Baden  . . 

25.0 

32.8 

1 Report  of  Registrar  General,  England,  1891,  p.  xi.  Full  discussion 
there. 

2 Statistik  des  Deutschen  Reichs,  No.  44,  p.  183.  For  an  elaborate 
study  of  infantile  mortality  in  Prussia,  see  Neumann,  Pauperismus  und 
Kindersterblichkeit  in  Preussen.  Jahrbiicher  fiir  Nationaloekonomie, 
etc.,  DritteFolge,  Vol.  V.,  p.  617. 


146 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


It  will  be  seen  tliat  the  mortality  among  illegitimates  is 
always  greater  and  sometimes  nearly  double  that  among 
legitimates.  The  usual  rul^  that  the  mortality  is  greater 
among  males  than  among  females  holds  good  for  both 
classes.  Where  there  is  a heavy  infantile  mortality  it 
affects  both.  In  some  places  in  Bavaria,  from  1867  to  1869, 
between  70  and  75  per  cent  of  the  illegitimate  cliildren 
died  during  the  first  year. 

Deaths  according  to  Conjugal  Condition.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  marriage  influences  mortality.  But  it  is  impos- 
sible to  compare  the  number  of  deaths  with  the  number 
of  persons  of  each  conjugal  condition,  because  of  the 
marked  differences  in  age  of  the  single,  married,  and 
widowed.  It  is  necessary,  therefore,  to  look  at  the  death- 
rate  for  each  class  at  each  age.  In  Germany  (1876-80) 
the  number  of  deaths  j)er  100  of  each  age  and  condition 
was  as  follows  : ^ 


Males. 

Females. 

Age. 

Single. 

Married. 

AVidowed 

and 

Divorced. 

Single. 

Married. 

AVidowed 

and 

Divorced. 

15  to  20  . . 

. 0.49 

- 

- 

0.45 

0.74 

- 

20  to  30  . . 

. 0.84 

0.67 

1.78 

0.59 

0.88 

1.17 

30  to  40  . . 

. 1.58 

0.90 

2.28 

1.00 

1.01 

1.14 

40  to  50  . . 

. 2.65 

1.42 

2.99 

1.54 

1.14 

1.34 

60  to  60  . . 

. 4.2 

2.4 

4.1 

2.7 

1.9 

2.3 

60  to  70  . . 

. 7.1 

4.5 

6.7 

6.3 

4.1 

4.9 

70  to  80  . . 

. 13.8 

9.6 

12.9 

11.9 

9.7 

10.9 

80  and  over 

. 26.3 

20.2 

26.0 

25.7 

20.3 

22.7 

If  Ave  compare  the  males  in  this  mortality  table,  we 
shall  see  that  at  all  ages  the  death-rate  is  less  among  the 
married  than  in  either  of  the  other  tAvo  classes.  Among 
Avomen  the  death-rate  for  the  married  is  at  first  slightly 
greater  than  for  the  single,  but  later  on  it  is  less  than  for 
either  the  single  or  the  widowed  and  dAorced.  The  sta- 
tistics for  Italy,  France,  Holland,  and  Sweden  show  very 
much  the  same  thing,  namel}^,  a favourable  mortality 
1 Statistik  des  Deutsclien  Eeichs,  No.  44,  p.  72*. 


DEATHS. 


147 


among  the  married,  — the  men  at  all  ages,  the  women  in 
the  ages  after  child-bearing.  This  favourable  mortality 
is  due  partly  to  the  fact  that  marriage  in  itself  is  more  or 
less  a process  of  natural  selection,  and  partly  to  the  greater 
regularity  and  soberness  of  life  induced  by  marriage. 

Accidental  and  Violent  Deaths.  By  far  the  larger  num- 
ber of  deaths  are  owing  to  weakness  or  disease,  but  there 
is  always  a certain  number  due  to  suicide,  murder,  or 
accident.  The  figures  for  suicide  and  homicide  we  shall 
treat  of  later  on,  the  latter  under  the  statistics  of  crime. 
The  number  of  accidental  deaths  varies  principally  accord- 
ing to  the  industrial  character  of  the  country.  Thns  we 
have  a large  number  in  England  (16,343  in  1892),  Sweden, 
and  Norway,  on  account  of  the  large  number  of  men 
engaged  in  mining  and  shipping.  In  Switzerland  there  is 
a large  number,  due  partly  to  the  mountainous  character  of 
the  country.  There  are  always  more  accidental  deaths 
among  men  than  among  women,  owing  to  occupation,  the 
proportion  being  generally  three  to  one.  There  is  a larger 
number  among  the  single  than  among  the  married  and 
widowed,  owing  to  accidental  deaths  among  children,  and 
the  employment  of  single  men  in  dangerons  industries. 
In  respect  to  age,  among  the  males  about  one-fifth  are  chil- 
dren under  the  age  of  five ; the  nnmber  in  the  next  age 
period  is  small,  increasing  with  advancing  age,  reaching 
the  maximum  in  the  period  35  to  45,  and  then  decreasing. 
Among  females  nearly  one-half  are  children  under  the  age 
of  five,  while  old  age  is  represented  much  more  heavily 
than  among  the  men.  The  kind  of  accident  depends  very 
much  upon  sex  and  age.  In  England  and  Prnssia  drown- 
ing is  the  most  frequent.  In  Italy,  falls  are  the  most  fre- 
quent, and  they  come  next  to  drowning  in  England  and 
Prussia.  In  England,  for  children  under  the  age  of  five, 
suffocation  is  the  most  frequent  cause  of  accidental  death, 
and  next  to  that,  burns,  scalds,  and  explosions.  As  the 
child  advances  in  age,  drowning  becomes  the  most  frequent 


148 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


cause.  In  middle  life,  accidents  due  to  vehicles  and  rail- 
ways and  those  connected  with  mines  and  machinery 
become  frequent,  although  drowning  and  falls  are  still 
numerously  represented.  Owing  to  the  large  number  of 
deaths  from  drowning,  the  maximum  number  of  accidental 
deaths  generally  falls  in  summer.^ 

Deaths  in  the  United  States.  The  death-rate  in  the 
United  States  is  very  difficult  to  estimate,  owing  to  the 
absence  in  most  of  the  states  of  any  adequate  registra- 
tion. The  total  number  of  deaths  reported  as  haffing 
occurred  in  1890  was  875,521,  giving  a death-rate  of 
only  13.98  per  1000.  In  some  states  and  cities  the 
registration  returns  were  used,  and  there  we  have  a 
death-rate  of  20.27  per  1000;  while  in  those  states  where 
the  returns  of  the  enumerators  of  the  Eleventh  Census 
were  alone  used,  the  death-rate  was  only  10.79  per  1000. 
Estimating  the  returns  as  deficient  by  30  per  cent,  we 
have  a death-rate  for  the  whole  country  of  about  18  per 
1000. 

Scientific  Tests. 

Method  of  Observation.  It  is  probable  that  the  registra- 
tion of  deaths  is  more  complete  than  that  of  marriages  or 
births,  because  of  the  necessity  of  getting  a burial  permit. 
In  the  interests  of  criminal  justice,  also,  a close  watch  is 
kept  upon  deaths,  so  that  cases  of  violence,  neglect,  or  mal- 
practice may  be  detected.  Thus,  while  an  infant  who  has 
never  been  registered  may  live  and  grow  up,  and  persons 
may  go  through  the  form  of  marriage  without  being  re- 
corded, in  the  case  of  death,  official  cognizance  is  taken  of 
the  fact,  and  in  case  of  doubt  an  investigation  is  made. 
The  deficiencies  in  registration,  therefore,  are  not  so  much 
deficiencies  in  the  number  of  deaths  as  in  the  detailed 
information  in  regard  to  age,  conjugal  condition,  and  the 
cause  of  death.  This  last  is  principally  a question  of  cer- 

iPreuss.  Zeitschrift  1881,  p.  29.  Italy,  Cause  di  Morte,  1890-91.  Eng- 
land, Reg.  Gen.  Rep.,  1891. 


DEATHS. 


149 


tification  by  medical  practitioners.  In  England  (1891)  the 
causes  of  91.8  per  cent  of  the  deaths  were  certified  by 
registered  medical  practitioners,  of  5.5  per  cent  by  coroners 
after  inquest,  while  the  remaining  2.7  per  cent  were  not- 
certified.  The  proportion  of  uncertified  deaths  is  steadily 
decreasing,  it  having  been  in  1880,  4.3  per  cent.  The 
number  is  largest  in  North  Wales  and  Huntingdonshire, 
in  those  counties  running  up  to  6 per  cent.  In  London 
it  was  only  1.1  per  cent. 

There  is  always  some  difficulty  in  getting  the  true  death- 
rate  according  to  ages.  This  is  felt,  for  instance,  in  the 
mortality  of  children  under  the  age  of  one.  When  the 
ages  of  the  population  are  taken,  children  of  9,  10,  and  11 
months  are  often  returned  as  being  one  year  of  age,  when 
in  reality  they  are  only  in  their  first  year  of  age.  In  case 
of  death,  more  care  is  taken  to  get  the  exact  age.  The 
death-rate  for  infants  is  thus  exaggerated.  It  is  advisable, 
therefore,  to  calculate  the  death-rate  upon  the  basis  of  the 
children  born  during  the  year  rather  than  upon  the  census 
return  of  children  under  one  year. 

A somewhat  similar  difficulty  is  met  in  comparing  the 
number  of  deaths  according  to  conjugal  condition.  In  the 
census,  persons  may  conceal  the  fact  that  they  are  widowed 
or  divorced,  which  fact,  however,  comes  out  in  the  closer 
investigation  at  death.  The  death-rates  of  these  classes 
would  hence  be  exaggerated. 

Comparison  of  Death-rates.  The  ordinary  basis  for 
comparison  of  mortality  is  to  take  the  number  of  deaths 
per  1000  of  the  population.  As  the  death-rate,  however, 
is  greater  among  males  than  among  females,  and  at  certain 
age  periods  than  at  others,  it  is  obvious  that  comparison 
would  only  be  fair  between  two  populations,  where  the 
sex  and  age  distribution  was  exactly  the  same.  This 
never  happens,  and  even  in  the  same  population  in  course 
of  time,  the  sex  and  age  distribution  may  vary.  The  use 
of  the  crude  death-rate  has  given  rise,  therefore,  to  many 


150 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


criticisms.  In  1881  the  general  rate  in  England  and 
Wales  was  18.9  per  1000  of  all  ages,  while  in  France  it 
was  22.0,  ^.e.,  3.1  higher.  But  had  the  age  distribution  of 
the  French  population  been  identical  with  that  of  the  Eng- 
lish, the  general  death-rate  would  have  been  20.9  and  not 
22.0.  Thus,  of  the  3.1  difference  between  the  two  rates, 
2.0  was  due  to  difference  of  health  condition,  and  1.1  to 
difference  of  age  distribution. ^ 

Dr.  Ogle  has  proposed  to  correct  the  death-rates  for 
different  countries  by  reducing  population  to  a common 
standard.  He  shows,  that  even  if  we  had  the  same  mor- 
tality at  different  ages  in  all  the  countries  of  Europe,  the 
differences  hr  age  distribution  would,  nevertheless,  bring 
about  a different  general  death-rate.  For  instance,  if  we 
should  apply  the  death-rates  for  England  and  Wales  ac- 
cording to  12  age  classes,  to  the  populations  of  7 different 
countries,  the  general  death-rate  would  be  : 

18.88  per  1000  in  England  and  Wales,  20.18  per  1000  in  Holland, 

18.82  per  1000  in  Austria,  21.31  per  1000  in  France, 

19.38  per  1000  in  Switzerland,  19.33  per  1000  in  Italy. 

19.21  per  1000  in  Germany, 

These  differences  are  due  solely  to  differences  in  age 
distribution.  Dr.  Ogle  proposes  to  establish  a standard 
population,  which  shall  be  the  average  of  the  population 
of  these  7 countries.  A death-rate  shall  then  he  calcu- 
lated for  each  country,  on  the  supposition  that  its  popula- 
tion corresponds  in  age  distribution  to  this  standard 
population. 2 

Korosi  ® has  investigated  the  subject  more  in  detail,  in 
order  to  discover  how  many  age  elasses  it  is  necessary  to 
employ,  and  how  many  countries  it  is  necessary  to  intro- 
duce into  the  standard  population.  He  has  discovered 
that  four  age  classes,  namely,  0-1,  1-20,  20-50,  and  over 

1 Newsholme,  Vital  Statistics,  p.  96. 

2 Bulletin  de  I’Institut  international  de  Statistique,  VI.,  p.  83. 

8 Ibid.  2 erne  Livraison,  p.  305. 


DEATHS. 


151 


50,  give  about  tlie  same  result  as  using  six  or  even  twelve, 
and  of  course  saves  a great  deal  of  labour.  He  also  de- 
clares that  the  results  are  very  nearly  the  same,  whether 
one  uses  the  population  of  a single  country  as  the  stand- 
ard, or  that  of  all  Europe.  He  therefore  proposes  to  take 
the  population  of  Sweden  as  the  standard,  and  to  get  a 
corrected  death-rate  for  each  country  by  calculating  what 
it  would  be  if  its  population  were  distributed  in  the  same 
way  as  is  the  Swedish.  An  example  of  his  method  for 
Austria  is  as  follows  : 


Age  Class. 

Under  1 year 
1 to  20  years 
20  to  60  years 
Over  50  years 

Sum  . 


Per  cent  of  popula- 
tion in  Sweden  of 
each  age  class. 

2.66 

39.81 

38.62 

18.92 

100.00 


Death-rate  in  Aus- 
tria for  each  age 
class  — per  cent. 

30.67 

1.90 

1.20 

6.39 


Deaths  in  population 
of  Austria  distrib- 
uted as  in  Sweden. 

8.13  per  26.6 
7.56  per  398.1 
4.63  per  386.2 
10.20  per  189.2 

30.52  per  1000.0 


The  crude  death-rate  for  Austria  was  30.6  per  1000. 
The  advantage  of  this  method  is  its  simplicity.  All  one 
has  to  do  is  to  take  the  death-rate  at  each  of  four  different 
ages  and  multiply  it  by  the  percentage  of  the  Swedish 
population  living  at  that  age.  The  result  is  the  number 
of  deaths  which  would  occur  if  the  population  were  dis- 
tributed as  in  Sweden.  The  sum  of  these  deaths  for  the 
four  age  classes  gives  the  number  of  deaths  for  1000  of 
the  population,  or  the  corrected  death-rate.  Applying 
this  method  to  various  countries,  Korosi  found  that  there 
were  considerable  differences  between  the  crude  and  the 
corrected  death-rates,  but  that  the  order  of  the  countries 
remained  practically  unchanged.  The  crude  death-rate 
is  sufficient  for  international  comparison.  For  smaller 
communities  it  is  advisable  to  use  the  corrected  rate. 

Dr.  Ogle  has  shown  that  while  the  mean  annual  death- 
rate  in  1871-80  in  London  and  in  Lancashire,  representing 
an  urban  population,  was  23.69  per  1000,  the  rate  in  12 


152 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


rural  counties  was  19.14.  But  this  does  not  fairly  repre- 
sent the  difference  between  the  healthfulness  of  urban  and 
rural  communities.  For  if  the  rural  population  had  had 
the  same  age  and  sex  distribution  as  the  urban,  its  general 
death-rate,  instead  of  being  19.14  per  1000,  would  have 
been  only  16.33.  The  difference,  therefore,  between  the 
urban  and  rural  mortality  was  really  very  much  greater 
than  would  be  supposed  from  the  death-rates  as  ordinarily 
given,  the  true  comparison  being  between  23.69  and  16.33 
and  not  between  23.69  and  19.14. 

Birth  and  death-rates  depend  on  the  enumeration  of 
the  people.  Between  censuses  the  population  must  be 
estimated  by  carrying  on  the  average  rate  of  increase  or 
decrease  during  the  last  census  period,  or  by  adding  each 
year  the  excess  of  births  over  deaths.  This  sometimes 
gives  rise  to  serious  errors.  Thus  in  England  the  esti- 
mated population  in  28  towns  for  1891  was  6.4  per  cent 
greater  than  the  census  population.  In  Liverpool  it  was 
20  and  in  Salford  26.3  per  cent  greater.  This  vitiated 
all  the  birth  and  death-rates  of  the  previous  ten  years. 
In  Liverpool  they  believed  on  the  basis  of  the  estimated 
population  that  the  death-rate  had  decreased  from  26.7 
per  1000  in  1881  to  23.6  in  1891.  When  they  got  the 
census  population  in  1891  they  found  that  the  real  death- 
rate  was  27.8  per  1000.  Great  caution  must  he  exercised 
in  drawing  inductions  from  city  death-rates  based  on 
inter-censal  estimates  of  the  population. 

Reflective  Analysis. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  speak  again  concerning  the  impor- 
tance of  the  death-rate  in  considering  the  social  condition 
of  any  community.  The  cause  of  deaths,  which  is  the 
most  important  thing  to  be  considered,  we  shall  treat  of 
more  fully  in  the  next  chapter.  But  even  in  this  chapter, 
as  we  have  considered  the  variations  of  the  death-rates 
according  to  climate  and  geographical  position,  in  city 


DEATHS. 


153 


and  in  country,  by  seasons,  as  influenced  by  war  and  scarc- 
ity, as  varying  according  to  sex,  age,  and  conjugal  con- 
dition, we  have  had  abundant  opportunity  to  point  out 
how  intimately  the  death-rate  is  connected  with  the 
natural  environment,  with  the  social  condition,  and  with 
the  demographic  constitution  of  any  community.  But 
notwithstanding  all  these  variations,  the  death-rate  main- 
tains a wonderful  regularity.  In  Germany,  during  the 
long  period  from  1841  to  1885,  the  average  annual  vari- 
ation from  the  average  death-rate  was  only  3.9  per  cent. 
This  was  less  than  for  births  and  very  much  less  than  for 
marriages.  The  fluctuations  above  and  below,  however 
great,  tend  in  the  long  run  to  counterbalance  each  other. ^ 


1 Statistik  des  Deutschen  Eeichs,  No.  44,  p.  16*. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


SICKISTESS  AND  MORTALITY. 

Sociological  Purpose. 

In  the  previous  chapter  we  considered  the  statistics  of 
deaths.  We  regarded  the  death-rate  as  an  index  of  the 
prosperity  of  the  community,  and  we  studied  carefuUy  its 
variations  according  to  time,  place,  and  circumstance. 
We  also  examined  the  true  method  of  getting  death-rates 
for  different  populations,  which  shall  be  comparable  after 
eliminating  the  influence  of  age  and  sex. 

W e turn  now  more  specifically  to  the  causes  of  deaths 
and  the  influence  of  death  upon  human  life,  — f.e.,  upon 
the  length  and  vigour  of  life. 

Most  human  lives  come  to  an  end  through  disease. 
Congenital  weakness,  old  age,  and  lack  of  food  are  not 
diseases  in  the  ordinary  acceptation  of  the  term,  although 
they  often  receive  their  final  expression  under  some  specific 
form  of  disease.  At  all  ages,  noxious  influences,  exposure 
to  the  weather,  poisonous  germs  or  hacilli  may  cause  in- 
flamation  or  atrophy,  some  abnormal  condition  of  an  organ 
or  of  the  whole  body,  and  this  we  call  disease. 

The  presence  of  disease  in  the  world  influences  the  hap- 
piness and  prosperity  of  the  communitj*  in  two  ways  of 
which  statistics  can  take  notice.  It  disables  or  hinders 
men  from  working,  and  causes  thus  a loss  of  time  and 
productive  power.  It  ends  in  death,  and  thus  shortens 
human  life.  We  have,  therefore,  the  statistics  of  Mor- 
bidity (sickness)  and  of  Mortality. 

154 


SICKNESS  AND  MOETALITT. 


155 


Our  statistics  of  sickness  are  in  a very  imperfect  con- 
dition. The  registration  of  deaths  gives  us  only  those 
cases  which  terminate  fatally.  But  for  every  case  that 
terminates  fatally  there  are  many  which  cause  loss  of  time 
and  often  impairment  of  strength  and  possibly  permanent 
loss  of  health.  It  is  impossible  to  reason  from  the  deaths 
to  the  number  of  illnesses,  because  the  rate  of  mortality 
varies  for  different  diseases,  and  according  to  time,  place, 
and  circumstance.  There  are  some  diseases,  again,  which 
do  not  greatly  affect  the  mortality,  and  of  which  the  death 
returns  are  silent.  But  from  an  economic  point  of  view, 
this  sickness  is  almost  as  important  as  death,  for  it  destroys 
the  productive  power  and  thus  the  prosperity  of  the  com- 
munity. The  great  mass  of  such  sickness  now  escapes 
registration.  We  have  some  information  from  Friendly 
Societies  and  Sick  Clubs,  but  the  statistics  do  not  cover  a 
large  number  of  persons,  and  relate  generally  only  to 
diseases  of  adult  life.  We  have  also  some  returns  from 
public  institutions  such  as  hospitals,  poorhouses,  and 
asylums,  but  these,  too,  cover  a comparatively  small  num- 
ber of  cases.  Finally,  we  have  compulsory  notification  of 
contagious  diseases,  such  as  smallpox,  scarlet  fever,  diph- 
theria, and  typhoid  fever.  It  would  be  very  desirable  to 
extend  the  principle  of  notification  to  all  infectious  dis- 
eases. By  such  means  early  measures  could  be  taken  to 
choke  epidemics  at  their  birth,  to  isolate  those  actually  ill, 
to  prevent  the  commingling  of  “ suspects,”  who  have  been 
exposed  to  infection,  with  others,  and  to  control  the  at- 
tendance at  school  of  children  from  an  infected  family. 
Incidentally  an  inspection  following  early  notification 
might  lead  to  the  discovery  of  conditions  causing  or  likely 
to  spread  the  disease.  Such  compulsory  notification  of 
infectious  diseases  is  not  always  insisted  upon,  and  there 
seems  to  be  no  probability  of  our  getting  a eomplete  regis- 
tration of  all  sickness. 

If  we  had  complete  registration  of  sickness  we  could 


156 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


ascertain  its  total  amount,  and  then  analyze  the  different 
diseases  according  to  their  absolute  and  relative  frequency, 
according  to  the  length  of  sickness,  the  greater  or  less 
fatality,  according  to  their  causes,  and,  if  possible,  accord- 
ing to  the  success  of  different  methods  of  treatment.  The 
value  of  such  statistics,  both  for  scientific  purposes  and 
for  medical  practice,  as  well  as  for  sanitary  guidance, 
would  he  enormous. 

When  the  disease  results  in  death,  the  cause  is  com- 
monly registered,  and  our  Morbidity  statistics  are  completed 
through  our  statistics  of  Mortality.  The  medical  practi- 
tioner is  compelled  to  return  the  cause  of  death.  This  of 
course  is  commonly  the  disease  according  to  his  diagnosis. 
Where  there  is  doubt  an  autopsy  may  take  place,  but 
nowhere  is  an  autopsy  compulsory  unless  crime  is  sus- 
pected. Our  statistics  of  death  from  disease  suffer  from 
the  ignorance  of  physicians,  and  from  the  natural  difficulty 
of  making  a correct  diagnosis  where  the  symptoms  are 
obscure.  It  is  the  office  of  medical  statistics  to  arrange 
deaths  from  disease  according  to  a scientific  classification, 
to  study  each  disease  according  to  the  age  and  sex  of  the 
victim,  according  to  the  season,  the  time  and  place  of  its 
prevalence,  the  influence  of  profession  or  occupation,  or 
habit  of  life,  such  as  intemperance,  etc.  These  statistics  are 
of  srreat  interest  to  the  science  of  medicine  even  in  their 
minutest  details,  and  are  also  of  general  concern  as  affect- 
ing the  health  and  happiness  of  the  community.  We 
cannot  go  into  the  details  of  medical  statistics,  but  the 
sociological  purpose  of  this  chapter  is  to  delineate  in  a 
general  way  the  effect  of  disease  on  the  community,  and 
to  trace  out  the  accompanying  circumstances.  Some  of 
these  may  be  said  to  be  natural  conditions  wliich  are  not 
influenced  by  the  will  of  man.  But  there  is  no  doubt  that, 
if  we  had  sufficient  knowledge,  much  of  the  disease  which 
now  afflicts  the  human  race  might  be  avoided. 

Finally,  having  thus  rounded  out  our  study  of  deaths, 


SICKNESS  AND  MORTALITY. 


157 


sickness,  and  mortality,  we  can  conclude  by  studying 
the  general  effect  of  death  on  human  life.  We  do 
this  by  constructing  Mortality  Tables,  or,  as  they  may 
also  be  termed.  Life  Tables.  These  show  us  the  average 
length  of  human  life,  the  expectation  of  life  at  birth  and 
at  each  successive  age,  whether  human  life  is  increasing 
in  length,  the  periods  of  life  most  fatal,  etc.  In  short, 
we  may  sum  up  and  put  into  scientific  shape  our  statistics 
of  deaths  and  mortality. 

Statistical  Bata. 

Statistics  of  Sickness.  There  being  no  official  registra- 
tion of  sickness,  our  information  is  derived  principally 
from  the  experience  of  private  associations,  such  as  benefit 
societies,  which  give  aid  to  members  when  they  are  ill. 
The  following  table  is  based  upon  the  experience  of  the 
largest  and  most  important  Friendly  Society  in  England 
— the  Manchester  Unity  of  Odd  Fellows,  comprising 
400,000  members. 


Age.  Avekage  Sickness  per  Individual 

PER  Annum  (in  Weeks). 

Males.  Females. 

15  to  20  666  .666 

20  to  25  737  .737 

25  to  45  995  .995 

45  to  65  2.736  2.751 

15  to  65  1.314  1.334 


This  table  shows  that  during  the  working  years  of  life 
the  average  annual  time  of  sickness  is  1.314  weeks,  or  a 
fraction  more  than  9 days  in  each  year.  If  this  experi- 
ence were  applied  to  all  England,  the  total  annual  loss  of 
work  through  sickness  among  males  would  be  9,692,505 
weeks  ; among  females,  10,592,761  weeks,  or  about  20,000,- 
000  of  weeks  altogether.  The  members  of  this  society 
may  be  regarded  as  belonging  to  the  more  frugal  portion 
of  the  working  classes,  and  would  include  very  few  insane. 


158 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


imbecile,  or  idiotic,  such  as  are  present  in  considerable 
numbers  in  the  community  at  large ; this  calculation 
may  therefore  be  regarded  as  approximately  correct. 
The  great  economic  loss  from  sickness  is  at  once  ap- 
parent. 

According  to  another  method  of  estimate  based  on  the 
experience  of  the  English  Friendly  Societies: — for  every 
100  men  living  at  the  age  of  20  to  30,  1.69  are  constantly 
sick  ; of  the  age  30  to  40,  1.91 ; of  the  age  40  to  50,  2.89 ; 
of  the  age  50  to  60,  5.21  are  constantly  sick.^ 

Another  estimate  is  that  of  Dr.  Farr,  who  declares  that 
in  England  to  one  annual  death  in  a body  of  men,  two  are 
on  an  average  constantly  suffering  from  sickness  of  some 
severity.  According  to  some  Friendly  Societies  the  con- 
stantly sick  to  one  annual  death  are  2.8.  As  the  number 
of  deaths  in  England  per  annum  is  about  750,000,  this 
would  mean  a million  and  a half  of  persons  constant 
sufferers  from  severe  sickness. 

The  German  legislation  in  regard  to  insurance  against 
sickness  promises  to  give  us  a better  basis  for  our  sta- 
tistics. In  1892  the  number  of  persons  insured  was 
7,723,000  and  there  were  2,752,000  cases  of  sickness. ^ 
The  experience  has  not  been  long  enough  yet  to  trace  the 
effect  of  good  and  bad  years  upon  the  number  of  cases  of 
sickness ; but  it  is  said  that  when  times  are  good,  the 
number  is  less  because  the  workmen  dislike  to  lose  high 
wages ; Avhile  in  bad  times,  when  wages  are  low  and 
employment  scarce,  they  are  both  inclined  and  compelled 
to  resort  to  sickness  insurance.  In  the  building  trades, 
however,  increased  activity  brings  increased  sickness  on 
account  of  the  bodily  strain  and  liability  to  injury  of  the 
work  itself.  The  number  of  days  lost  for  each  sickness 
was  15.7,  and  for  each  insured  person,  5.6. 

If  the  danger  of  sickness  be  expressed  by  the  average 

1 Newsholme,  Vital  Statistics,  pp.  276-278. 

2 The  Economic  Journal,  Vol.  III.,  p.  142. 


SICKISTBSS  AND  MORTALITY. 


159 


number  of  days  of  sickness  to  each  member  of  a certain 
trade  or  occupation,  we  have  the  following  figures.  The 
most  unfavourable  result  is  shown  in  gas  works,  and  dye 
and  paint  works,  where  there  were  8.8  days  of  illness  to 
each  insured  workman.  From  7 to  8 days  of  illness  fell  to 
each  workman  in  iron,  steel,  wire,  and  chain  works ; in 
ship-yards  and  manufactures  of  machinery  ; in  silver,  lead, 
copper,  zinc,  and  tin  smelting  works,  in  blacksmithing  and 
other  trades  having  to  do  with  metals.  Between  6 and  7 
days  of  illness  happened  in  13  trades,  such  as  the  chemical 
industries,  breweries,  printing,  powder  works,  etc.  From 

5 to  6 days  happened  in  24  trades,  such  as  paper  mills,  pot- 
teries, flour  mills,  distilleries,  tanneries,  etc.  From  4 to  5 
happened  in  15  occupations,  such  as  boots  and  shoes,  glass 
works,  and  match  works.  From  3 to  4 days  happened  in 

6 occupations,  such  as  ribbon-weaving,  cigar  and  tobacco 
factories.  In  the  group  from  2 to  3 days  fell  the  corset 
factories,  while  the  least  number  of  sick  days,  namely,  1.6, 
fell  in  the  factories  for  underwear  and  cloaks.  The  enu- 
meration of  these  occupations  shows  that  sickness  is  not 
determined  by  the  kind  of  occupation,  but  must  depend 
largely  upon  other  circumstances.^ 

Accident  Insurance.  Statistics  of  the  accidents  in  Ger- 
many are  of  very  considerable  interest.  The  figures  for 
the  year  1892  gave  18,014,280  persons  insured  against 
accidents.  In  that  year  236,265  accidents  were  reported, 
and  compensation  was  paid  for  55,654.  The  remainder 
resulted  in  disability  for  less  than  13  weeks,  and  so  came 
under  the  sickness  insurance.  This  shows  an  average 
of  13.1  accidents  to  each  1000  workmen,  or  3.1  com- 
pensated accidents  to  each  1000  workmen.  In  agriculture 
the  number  of  accidents  was  only  4.1  to  each  1000  insured, 
while  in  industry  it  was  32.5.  The  number  of  accidents 
in  different  occupations  has  not  yet  been  clearly  worked 
out.  The  highest  number  is  found  in  the  iron  and 
1 Allg.  Stat.  Archiv,  Vol.  II.,  p.  233  ff. 


160 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


steel  works,  and  in  the  breweries,  where  the  experience 
of  four  years  showed  more  than  40  accidents  to  1000 
insured. 

Of  the  compensated  accidents  10.6  per  cent  resulted  in 
death,  and  5 per  cent  in  permanent  incapacity  for  work. 
The  proportion  of  fatal  accidents  varies  greatly  in  different 
trades.  In  ocean  shipping,  for  instance,  the  number  of 
accidents  resulting  in  death  ran  as  high  as  one-third. 
The  nature  of  the  accident  varies  with  the  occupation, 
as  burning  and  scalding  in  sugar  and  iron  works,  poi- 
soning in  chemical  works,  injury  to  the  right  arm  in 
machine  works,  etc.  Curious  statistics  in  regard  to  the 
hour  of  day  when  the  accident  occurred  show  an  in- 
creasing number  from  6 o’clock  in  the  morning  up  to 
noon,  and  from  1 o’clock  up  to  6 in  the  afternoon, 
apparently  due  to  the  fatigue  of  the  continuous  work. 
According  to  the  statistics  of  1887,  53  per  cent  of  the 
accidents  were  due  to  negligence,  namely,  19.7  per  cent  to 
the  negligence  of  the  employers,  25.6  per  cent  to  that  of  the 
workmen,  4.5  per  cent  to  that  of  workman  and  employer, 
and  3.3  per  cent  to  the  negligence  of  fellow- workmen  and 
third  persons.  In  regard  to  age,  among  persons  under 
16  years  of  age  40.14  per  cent  of  the  accidents  were  due 
to  their  OAvn  negligence,  among  persons  from  16  to  20 
years,  33.45  per  cent,  and  among  persons  over  20  years, 
24.4  per  cent.  Among  women  39.65  per  cent,  among 
men  25.08  per  cent,  of  the  accidents  were  due  to  their  ovoi 
negligence.^ 

The  Statistics  of  Disease.  Disease  being  the  principal 
cause  of  death,  one  of  the  great  functions  of  vital  statistics 
is  to  classify  deaths  according  to  the  diseases  which  cause 
them.  Unfortunately  there  is  no  universally  accepted 
system  of  classification,  and  medical  science  is  making 
such  rapid  progress  that  it  does  not  seem  possible  to 
devise  one  which  shall  be  good  for  the  future.  As  an 
lAllg.  Stat.  Archiv,  Vol.  II.,  p.  272. 


SICKNESS  AND  MORTALITY. 


161 


example  of  classification  the  following  table  is  given  for 
England:  ^ 


Causes  of  Death. 

Total  Deaths, 
1891. 

Eats  per  Million 
Living,  Mean,  1881-90. 

Zymotic  diseases 

78,704 

2,656 

Parasitic  diseases 

658 

32 

Dietetic  diseases 

2,406 

65 

Constitutional  diseases 

97,108 

3,325 

Developmental  diseases 

49,156 

1,593 

Local  diseases 

. 314,253 

9,785 

Violence 

19,500 

651 

Ill-defined  and  not  specified  causes  . 

26,140 

1,042 

All  causes 

. 587,925 

19,149 

Under  the  zymotic  or  specific  febrile  diseases  are  in- 
cluded small -pox,  measles,  scarlet  fever,  typhus,  diphtheria, 
etc.  Under  dietetic  diseases  are  included  starvation,  scurvy, 
and  alcoholism.  Under  constitutional  diseases  are  included 
gout,  rickets,  cancer,  phthisis  and  other  forms  of  tuber- 
culosis. Under  developmental  diseases  are  included  pre- 
mature birth,  congenital  defects,  old  age,  etc.  The  class, 
local  diseases,  is  divided  into  those  of  the  nervous,  the 
circulating,  the  respiratory,  and  the  digestive  system.  In 
all  there  are  about  150  different  diseases  registered.  In 
Italy  the  number  is  169.  It  is  evident  that  the  statistician 
cannot  enter  into  the  details  of  all  these  different  diseases, 
because  in  many  cases  the  numbers  are  so  small  that 
variations  from  year  to  year  would  be  due  to  purely 
accidental  causes.  It  is  therefore  customary  to  pick  out 
the  principal  diseases  or  classes  of  disease,  and  estimate 
the  death-rate  per  one  million  persons  living.  We  can 
also  calculate  what  proportion  the  deaths  from  any  par- 
ticular disease  bear  to  the  total  deaths.  That  figure 
is  not  very  satisfactory,  because  the  deaths  from  any 
particular  disease  remaining  the  same  and  the  total  num- 
ber of  deaths  varying,  the  proportion  would  vary. 

The  death-rate  from  different  diseases  varies  greatly 
1 Report  of  the  Registrar  General,  1891. 

M 


162 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


in  different  years.  There  may  be  an  epidemic,  and 
after  such  epidemic  there  may  be  a lull  for  several  years 
caused  by  the  fact  that  there  are  but  few  in  the  popula- 
tion who  have  not  purchased  immunity  by  a pre\dous 
attack. 

It  is  the  duty  of  medical  statistics  to  connect  the  preva- 
lence of  particular  diseases  with  temperature,  density  of 
population,  sanitary  condition,  sex,  age,  etc.  For  us  it  is 
impossible  to  go  into  these  details.  Diseases  of  the  diges- 
tive system  are  especially  fatal  during  the  summer  months, 
and  hot  and  dry  summers  are  more  fatal  than  cold  and 
wet  ones.  Measles  in  large  cities  like  London  seems  to 
have  two  periods  of  prevalence,  one  in  May  and  June,  the 
other  in  December.  Typhoid  fever  shows  its  maximum 
in  October.  Age,  of  course,  makes  a great  difference  in 
the  mortality  from  particular  diseases.  Many  are  dis- 
tinctively diseases  of  childhood.  The  mortality  from 
scarlet  fever  rises  to  a maximum  in  the  third  year  of  life, 
and  then  falls,  at  first  slowly,  but  afterwards  rapidly, 
becoming  smaller  at  each  age  period.  Cancer,  on  the 
other  hand,  is  very  infrequent  in  childhood,  but  after  the 
25th  year  of  age  increases  with  great  rapidity.  Similar 
facts  might  be  given  for  other  diseases.  Sex  also  makes  a 
great  difference.  The  mortality  among  males  is  greater 
in  small-pox,  measles,  scarlet  fever,  diarrhoea,  phthisis, 
diseases  of  the  nervous  system,  and  of  the  respiratory 
system.  The  mortality  for  females  is  greater  in  diphtheria, 
whooping  cough,  and  cancer.  The  mortality  from  differ- 
ent diseases  varies  greatly  according  to  geographical  situ- 
ation, character  of  the  soil,  conditions  of  temperature, 
quality  of  the  water-supply,  and  density  of  population. 
Each  one  of  these,  however,  requires  minute  investigation 
for  each  disease,  which  is  of  great  interest  to  the  medical 
profession,  but  is  too  special  for  the  statistician  and  the 
student  of  sociology.^ 

1 Newsholme,  Vital  Statistics.  LongstaS,  Studies  in  Statistics. 


SICKNESS  AKD  MORTALITY. 


163 


International  Comparison  of  Mortality  from  Different 
Diseases.  The  system  of  classification  of  diseases  differs 
in  different  countries.  The  skill  of  the  medical  practi- 
tioners, the  correctness  of  the  diagnosis,  and  the  careful- 
ness in  the  registration  also  differ.  When  we  consider  in 
addition  the  different  climatic  and  sanitary  peculiarities  of 
each  country,  the  varying  conditions  of  the  population 
according  to  age,  sex,  density,  and  economic  position,  we 
may  at  once  admit  that  international  comparison  of  mor- 
tality from  diseases  can  have  but  little  value.  In  giving, 
therefore,  the  following  table,  we  give  it  simply  as  an 
illustration  of  an  attempt  in  this  direction. 

Deaths  (1887-91)  from  Certain  Diseases  per  10,000  Inhabitants.! 

CouNTKY.  Small-pox.  Measles.  Scarlet  Diphtheria.  Typhoid  Tuber- 


Fever. 

Fever. 

culosis. 

Italy 

3.86 

6.17 

2.99 

6.08 

7.49 

13.61 

Erance  (cities) 

2.30 

5.18 

3.10 

6.66 

5.32 

33.00 

England .... 

0.11 

4.68 

2.31 

1.74 

1.90 

16.09 

Ireland  . . . . 

0.01 

2.01 

1.22 

0.76 

2.33 

21.15 

Germany  (cities)  . 

0.04 

2.80 

2.15 

10.212 

2.11 

31.29 

Prussia  . . . . 

0.03 

3.20 

2.46 

14.17  2 

2.26 

28.06 

Austria  . . . . 

4.43 

5.36 

5.57 

13.202 

5.42 

37.20 

Switzerland  . . 

0.06 

1.53 

1.22 

3.532 

1.47 

21.07 

Belgium  . . . . 

1.52 

6.20 

1.62 

5.772 

3.83 

19.87 

Holland  . . . . 

0.02 

3.93 

0.38 

1.45 

2.50 

19.21 

Sweden  . . . . 

0.01 

2.30 

3.69 

3.89 

2.22 

- 

The  figures  for  each  disease  give  a rough  measure  of  its 
prevalence  in  different  countries.  The  large  figures  for 
small-pox  in  Italy  and  Austria  show  the  absence  of  vacci- 
nation. Diphtheria  seems  to  be  very  fatal  in  Germany 
and  Austria.  Italy  has  a large  rate  in  typhoid  fever,  and 
the  same  is  true  of  other  fevers.  France,  Germany,  and 
Austria  show  a large  rate  for  tuberculosis,  while  Italy 
shows  a very  small  one.  Other  diseases  show  similar 
variations.  All  these  proportions  must  be  taken  with 
great  caution,  in  consequence  of  what  has  been  said  above. 

! Statistica  delle  Cause  di  Morte,  1891-92.  Roma,  1894. 

2 Includes  croup. 


164 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY, 


Mortality  according  to  Occupations.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  the  trade  or  occupation  which  a man  pursues  often 
has  a great  effect  upon  his  health  and  length  of  life. 
Some  occupations  are  so  dangerous  owing  to  liability  to 
accident,  or  so  unhealthy  owing  to  the  conditions  under 
which  they  are  carried  on,  or  the  necessity  of  using 
poisonous  substances,  that  no  insurance  company  will  have 
anything  to  do  with  the  persons  engaged  in  them.  Some 
of  these  unfavourable  conditions  might  possibly  be  re- 
moved, and  the  first  step  is  to  ascertain  whether  the 
occupation  is  dangerous  or  not,  and  the  second,  to  detect 
the  exact  cause  of  the  dangerous  or  unhealthful  influence. 
Care  must  be  taken  to  get  a trustworthy  statistical  basis 
for  our  observations.  Of  course  the  mere  distribution 
of  the  total  number  of  deaths  among  different  occupa- 
tions shows  us  absolutely  nothing,  because  the  number 
of  persons  is  so  different.  Even  if  we  calculate  the 
death-rate  for  all  persons  in  an  occupation,  it  is  not 
a good  basis  for  comparison,  because  of  the  different  age 
distribution.  The  only  method  of  making  death-rates 
that  can  be  safely  compared  with  each  other  is  the  labori- 
ous one  of  calculating  them  for  each  occupation  at  each 
successive  age  period,  and  then  applying  these  death-rates 
to  a population  with  precisely  the  same  age  distribution. 

The  latest  calculation  of  this  sort  is  one  published  by 
Dr.  Ogle,  based  on  a comparison  between  the  census 
returns  in  England  for  1881  and  the  death  registers  for 
the  three  years  1880-1-2.  The  figures  relate  only  to 
males  between  25  and  65  years  of  age,  the  death-rates 
being  calculated  for  two  groups,  one  above  and  the  other 
below  45,  and  they  have  been  applied  to  a male  popula- 
tion in  which  these  two  age  classes  bore  a certain  fixed 
proportion  to  each  other.  Of  the  death-rates  thus  ob- 
tained the  lowest  was  that  of  men  in  the  clerical  profes- 
sion. That  is  therefore  taken  as  a standard  represented 
by  100,  and  the  death-rate  of  each  other  profession  or 


SICKNESS  AND  MOKTALITY. 


165 


occupation  is  represented  by  a figure  proportionate  to  this 
standard.  We  have  then  a table  of  the  following  sort : 


Compar- 

Compar- 

ative 

ative 

OCCtrPATION. 

Mortal- 

Occupation.  Mortal- 

ity. 

ity. 

Clergymen,  priests,  ministers 

. 100 

Builders,  masons,  bricklayers 

174 

Lawyers 

. 152 

Carpenters,  joiners  .... 

148 

Medical  men 

. 202 

Cabinet-makers,  upholsterers . 

173 

Plumbers,  painters,  glaziers  . 

216 

Gardeners 

. 108 

Farmers 

. 114 

Blacksmiths 

175 

Agricultural  labourers  . . 

. 126 

Engine,  machine,  boiler-makers 

155 

Fishermen 

. 143 

Silk  manufacture 

152 

Commercial  clerks  . . . 

. 179 

Wool,  worsted,  manufacture  . 

186 

Commercial  travellers  . . 

. 171 

Cotton  manufacture  .... 

196 

Innkeepers,  liquor  dealers . 

. 274 

Inn,  hotel  service  . . . 

. 397 

Cutlers,  scissors-makers  . . 

229 

Brewers 

. 245 

Gunsmiths  

186 

File-makers 

300 

Butchers 

. 211 

Bakers 

. 172 

Paper-makers 

129 

Com  millers 

. 172 

Glass  workers 

214 

Earthenware-makers  . . . 

314 

Grocers 

. 139 

Drapers 

. 159 

Coal  miners 

160 

Shopkeepers  generally  . . 

. 158 

Cornish  miners 

331 

Stone,  slate,  quarries  . . . 

202 

Tailors 

. 189 

Shoemakers 

. 166 

Cab,  omnibus  service  . . . 

267 

Hatters 

. 192 

Eailway,  road,  labourers  . . 

185 

Printers 

. 193 

Costermongers,  hawkers,  street 

Bookbinders 

. 210 

sellers  

308 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  table  that  the  differences  of 
mortality  in  the  different  industries  are  very  great.  If 
the  mortality  of  clergymen,  for  instance,  is  represented 
by  100,  that  of  men  engaged  in  the  earthenware  manu- 
facture is  represented  by  314,  and  that  of  inn  and  hotel 
servants  by  397.  Dr.  Ogle  classes  the  causes  of  high 
mortality  under  the  following  seven  general  headings  : 
(1)  Working  in  a cramped  or  constrained  attitude,  as 
the  silk  weavers,  lace-makers,  and  possibly  shoemakers. 


166 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


(2)  Exposure  to  the  action  of  poisonous  or  irritating 
substances,  such  as  phosphorus,  mercury,  lead,  infected 
hair  or  wool.  We  have  here  a list  of  diseases  peculiar  to 
certain  trades,  which  attack  the  dippers  of  lucifer  matches, 
gilders,  hatters,  furriers,  and  others  who  make  use  of 
quicksilver ; the  arsenical  poisoning  of  paper-hangers ; 
lead  poisoning  among  painters,  plumbers,  glaziers,  gas- 
fitters,  printers,  and  file-makers. 

(3)  Excessive  work,  mental  or  physical,  especially  such 
as  involves  sudden  strains,  as  among  fishermen. 

(4)  W orking  in  confined  and  foul  air,  as  among  tailors, 
printers,  book -binders,  and  hatters,  or  even  shopkeepers. 

(5)  The  effect  of  alcoholic  drinks,  as  seen  among  inn- 
keepers, publicans,  and  wine  and  spirit  dealers. 

(6)  Liability  to  fatal  accident,  as  among  miners,  stone 
and  slate  quarrymen,  and  fishermen. 

(7)  Inhalation  of  dust  increasing  the  mortality  from 
phthisis  and  diseases  of  the  lungs.  The  effect  differs  very 
greatly,  not  only  according  to  the  amount,  but  also  accord- 
ing to  the  character  of  the  dust,  that  which  consists  of 
hard  and  sharp,  pointed  particles  naturally  being  more 
irritating  to  the  air  passages  than  that  of  which  the  parti- 
cles are  soft  and  rounded.  The  hard  woods,  such  as  are 
used  by  cabinet-makers,  are  said  to  give  off  a much  more 
injurious  dust  than  do  the  softer  ones  used  by  carpenters. 
Flour,  of  which  millers,  bakers,  and  confectioners  inspire 
large  quantities,  apj^ears  to  have  no  injurious  effect  upon 
their  vitality.  The  dust  given  off  in  textile  factories,  es- 
pecially cotton  factories,  increases  the  mortality  from  dis- 
eases of  the  respiratory  organs.  Most  mjurious  is  metallic 
dust,  such  as  is  given  off  in  the  manufacture  of  cutlery 
and  file-making,  and  the  dust  of  stone,  giving  rise  to  great 
mortality  among  masons  and  bricklayers,  stone  and  slate 
quarrymen,  Cornish  miners,  and  pottery  makers. 

The  low  mortality  from  lung  diseases  among  coal  miners 
has  provoked  much  discussion.  Dr.  Ogle  says  there  are 


SICKNESS  AND  MORTALITY. 


167 


two  possible  explanations  : — one,  that  the  apparent  exemp- 
tion is  simply  due  to  the  picked  character  of  the  miners, 
inasmuch  as  none  but  strong  men  are  likely  to  adopt  so 
laborious  a calling  ; the  other,  that  there  is  some  special 
preservative  condition  attaching  to  the  industry,  namely, 
that  coal  dust  possesses  the  property  of  hindering  the  de- 
velopment of  tuberculosis  and  of  arresting  its  progress. 
Dr.  Ogle  thinks  the  latter  theory  has  some  basis  of 
probability. 

It  is  comparatively  easy  to  give  plausible  reasons  for 
the  differences  in  mortality  in  different  occupations.  Cler- 
gymen, for  instance,  for  the  most  part  live  in  the  country, 
pursue  a quiet,  regular  life,  have  a moderate  but  certain 
income,  and  escape  the  worry  and  excitement  of  modern 
life.  The  mortality  among  medical  men  is  due  to  the  ex- 
posure and  irregular  hours  necessitated  by  their  profes- 
sion. Among  lawyers  the  mortality  is  greater  than  among 
clergymen,  but  less  than  among  physicians.  It  is  less 
among  barristers  than  among  attorneys,  due  probably  to 
social  position.  The  mortality  of  school-teachers  is  about 
the  average  of  the  whole  population,  but  increases  with 
advancing  age,  owing  to  the  confining  nature  of  the 
work.  Commercial  clerks  have  rather  high  mortality,  — 
they  mostly  live  in  cities,  work  in  a confined  posture,  and 
are  not  particularly  well  paid.  Commercial  travellers 
have  about  the  same  mortality,  due  probably  to  the  expos- 
ures of  travel  and  their  irregular  life.  Out-door  occupa- 
tions, as  farming  and  gardening,  are  the  most  favourable 
to  life. 

This  whole  subject  of  mortality  among  occupations 
demands  further  and  minute  investigation,  and  especially 
a more  exact  census  of  occupations.  And  it  is  also  evi- 
dent that  economic  and  social  position  must  have  great 
influence  on  the  mortality  as  well  as  the  occupation  itself. 

There  is  one  profession,  namely,  the  army,  of  which  we 
have  very  exact  statistics.  In  time  of  peace  the  mortality 


168 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY, 


is  generally  less  than  among  the  male  population  of  the 
same  age.  In  England,  in  1887,  the  general  mortality 
for  the  whole  army  in  the  United  Kingdom  was  6.68  per 
1000.  For  the  troops  abroad  it  was  generally  higher, 
being  in  Gibraltar  9.51,  in  the  West  Indies  14.70,  and  in 
India  15.51.  The  death-rate  in  the  Prussian  army  for  the 
period  from  1846  to  1863  was  9.49. 

In  time  of  war  the  death-rate  is  naturally  greater.  The 
German  army,  in  1870  and  1871,  lost  by  death  40,743  men, 
of  whom  three-fourths  were  killed,  and  one-fourth  died 
from  disease.  In  addition  to  these,  112,336  were  wounded, 
and  4009  were  missing.  The  death-rate  for  the  whole 
army  during  the  time  of  war  was  45.89,  but  varied  greatly 
according  to  the  branch  of  service  and  rank,  as  the  follow- 
ing little  table  will  show  : 


Bkanch  op  Service. 

Death-rate. 

Bank. 

Death-rate. 

Headquarters  . . . 

. 16.93 

General  .... 

. . . 46.15 

Infantry 

. 52.79 

Staff  officers  . . 

. . . 105.18 

Cavalry 

. 27.08 

Captains  . . . 

. . . 86.23 

Artillery 

. 27.22 

Lieutenants  . . 

. . . 88.69 

Pioneers 

. 17.63 

Surgeons  . . . 

. . . 11.95 

Train 

. 26.39 

Non-commissioned 
and  file  . . 

officers 

. . . 45.01 

This  table  shows  the  greater  exposure  of  certain  branches 
of  the  service,  and  especially  how  much  greater  danger 
the  staff  and  commissioned  officers  are  exposed  to  than 
the  ordinary  rank  and  file. 

Duration  of  Life.  One  of  the  most  important  facts  to 
learn  about  population  is  the  length  of  human  life.  Sup- 
pose we  observe  a million  children,  born  the  same  year, 
and  follow  them  through  life,  entering  in  a column 
the  number  still  alive  at  the  end  of  each  successive 
year  until  all  have  died.  In  this  way  we  shall  have  a 
complete  life  table  or  history  of  that  generation  from  birth 
to  death.  We  can  tell  at  a glance  how  many  out  of  the 
one  million  are  still  surviving  at  the  age  of  20,  or  50,  or  85, 
or  “ X ” years.  If  we  add  together  these  survivors  for  all 


SICKNESS  AND  MORTALITY. 


169 


the  years,  we  get  the  total  number  of  years  of  life  enjoyed 
by  the  whole  one  million  persons.  Dividing  this  total  by 
one  million  we  get  the  average  number  of  years  of  life 
enjoyed  by  each  of  the  one  million.  This  is  called 
the  “ expectation  of  life.”  Such  “ expectation  of  life  ” 
does  not  represent  the  number  of  years  a man  will  prob- 
ably live.  Very  few  of  the  lives  will  fail  when  they  have 
exactly  completed  the  expectation  of  life.  Many  will  fall 
far  short  of  it ; and  many  will  long  survive  it.  In  fact, 
to  form  the  expectation  of  life,  we  take  the  excess  from 
those  who  live  long  and  distribute  it  among  those  who  die 
early,  so  as  to  place  all  on  an  equality  ; and  the  expecta- 
tion of  life  has  no  relation  whatever  to  the  most  probable 
lifetime  of  any  given  individual.^ 

The  expectation  of  life  may  be  calculated  for  each  age 
and  then  represents  the  Mean  After  Life,  or  the  average 
number  of  years  that  the  survivors  at  that  age  will  still 
live.  At  the  age  of  20,  for  instance,  a man  in  England 
will  on  the  average  still  have  39.4  years  to  live,  that  is,  he 
will  reach  the  age  of  59.4  years. 

The  expectation  of  life,  or  Mean  After  Life,  according 
to  Dr.  Ogle’s  English  Life  Table,  is  as  follows  : 


Age. 

Males. 

Females. 

Age. 

Males. 

Females. 

0 . . 

41.35 

44.62 

55  . 

15.95 

17.33 

5 . . 

50.87 

53.08 

60  . 

13.14 

14.24 

10  . . 

47.60 

49.76 

65  . 

10.55 

11.42 

15  . . 

43.41 

45.63 

70  . 

8.27 

8.95 

20  . . 

39.40 

41.66 

75  . 

6.34 

6.87 

25  . . 

35.68 

37.98 

80  . 

4.79 

5.20 

30  . . 

32.10 

34.41 

85  . 

3.56 

3.88 

35  . . 

28.64 

30.90 

90  . 

2.66 

2.90 

40  . . 

25.30 

27.46 

95  . 

2.01 

2.17 

45  . . 

22.07 

24.06 

100  . 

1.61 

1.62 

50  . . 

18.93 

20.68 

In  early  childhood  the  expectation  of  life  increases,  up 
to  about  the  age  of  five.  This  is  due  to  the  excessive 

1 Quoted  from  King,  Life  Contingencies,  p.  29. 


170 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


mortality  among  infants,  which,  causes  a large  number  of 
very  short  lives  to  be  counted  in  the  average.  After  the 
age  of  five  the  “ expectation  ” decreases  with  advancing 
years,  hut  even  at  a very  advanced  age  the  chance  of  sur- 
viving the  following  year  is  greater  than  the  probability 
of  dying  during  the  year. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  expectation  of  life  is  always 
greater  for  women  than  for  men,  on  account  of  the  greater 
mortality  among  men. 

Countries  differ  very  much  in  the  expectation  of  life. 
At  birth  it  is  in  Germany  for  males  35.58,  and  for  females 
38.45  ; in  France  it  is  for  males  40.83,  and  for  females 
43.41.  At  the  age  of  25  it  is  in  France  37.17  for 
males  and  38.67  for  females,  as  contrasted  with  34.96  for 
males  and  36.53  for  females  in  Germany,  and  the  figures 
given  in  the  table  for  England.  The  low  expectation 
at  birth  in  Germany  is  due  to  infant  mortality,  and  the 
high  expectation  in  France  to  the  large  number  of  old 
people  who  live  long  lives,  and  thus  bring  up  the  average. 
In  extreme  old  age  the  expectation  of  life  both  in  France 
and  England  is  superior  to  that  in  Germany. 

It  is  to  be  observed  that  life  tables  for  a whole  commu- 
nity differ  from  those  which  are  prepared  for  a particular 
purpose,  such  as  the  insurance  of  lives,  calculation  of 
annuities,  payment  of  pensions,  etc.  The  life  table  for 
the  whole  country  includes  all  classes  of  persons,  the  poor, 
the  criminal,  the  diseased,  and  the  -vdcious.  Persons 
insured  are  as  a rule  a select  class.  They  therefore  may 
be  expected  to  have  a longer  life  than  the  av^erage.  So 
in  calculating  the  cost  of  pensioning  the  ci\T.l  servants  of 
a government  regard  must  be  had  to  the  same  fact  that 
they  are  probably  a select  class,  and  will  live  longer  than 
the  usual  life  table  would  show.  In  granting  pensions  to 
soldiers  who  have  been  disabled  by  wounds  or  disease  the 
reverse  might  he  true.  Hence  for  these  particular  pur- 
poses special  tables  are  made  out,  founded  upon  actual 


SICKNESS  AND  MORTALITY. 


171 


experience  with  the  classes  concerned.  Occupation,  social 
position,  and  place  of  residence  also  have  influence  in  these 
calculations.  As  an  example  of  these  variations  we  give 
the  following  list,  showing  the  expectation  of  life  or 
Mean  After  Life  at  the  age  of  40  for  different  classes  of 
persons  : ^ 


Tears. 

France,  civil  pensioners  in  general 20.69 

France,  pensioners,  from  a sedentary  Kfe 17.88 

France,  pensioners,  from  an  active  life 21.23 

France,  pensioners,  widows 29.31 

Mean  after  life  of  members  of  the  Institute,  deceased  1795-1869  . 29.74 

England,  pensioners,  males 26.00 

England,  pensioners,  females 29.80 

Experience  of  twenty  English  insurance  companies 27.60 

Experience  of  the  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company  of  New  York . 29.73 

Experience  of  thirty  American  ofBces 28.48 

Experience  of  the  Gotha  Mutual,  Germany 26.94 

City  of  Berlin,  males 23.40 

City  of  Berlin,  females 28.36 

City  of  New  York,  males 22.54 

City  of  New  York,  females 25.24 

City  of  Baltimore,  white  males 26.70 

City  of  Baltimore,  coloured  males 21.71 

City  of  Baltimore,  white  females 29.40 

City  of  Baltimore,  coloured  females 27.64 


Deaths  among  10,618  Jewish  families.  United  States,  1889,  males . 36.17 
Deaths  among  10,618  Jewish  families.  United  States,  1889,  females,  31.98 

This  table,  which  might  be  extended  to  other  ages,  is 
sufficient  to  show  how  much  depends  upon  the  selection 
of  lives  in  calculating  life  tables.  The  flgures  for  the 
United  States,  especially  for  the  Jewish  families,  are  very 
uncertain  on  account  of  imperfect  methods  of  registration. 
The  data  for  cities  are  often  deceptive  because  of  the 
number  of  persons  who  come  to  the  city  for  treatment  in 
hospitals  and  asylums. 

iLevasseur,  La  Pop.  fran^aise,  II.,  p.  321.  Tenth  Census  of  the 
United  States,  XII.,  p.  cxliii.  Stat.  Jahrhuch  fiir  die  Stadt  Berlin. 
Eleventh  Census  of  the  United  States,  Bulletin  No.  19. 


172 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


Scientific  Tests. 

Methods  of  Observation.  In  all  statistics  of  Morbidity 
and  Disease  the  initial  difficulty  is  in  defining  what  is 
sickness,  and  in  diagnosing  the  disease.  Of  course,  slight 
ailments  such  as  colds,  aches,  pains  are  disregarded.  They 
could  never  be  gathered  by  any  statistical  machinery,  how- 
ever perfect.  It  is  only  serious  sickness,  principally  that 
disabling  persons  from  work,  that  we  can  consider.  Even 
here  there  are  several  sources  of  error  — viz.,  that  serious 
sickness  may  escape  notice  because  the  persons  affiicted 
are  not  insured,  or  are  not  attended  by  a medical  practi- 
tioner; or  that  the  disease  is  of  such  a character  that  the 
person  desires  to  conceal  it.  So  even  if  we  had  compulsory 
returns  by  physicians  of  all  serious  cases  of  sickness,  it  is 
not  probable  that  they  would  be  exact.  Another  question 
would  come  up  as  to  the  duration  of  the  sickness.  Are 
we  to  count  the  period  of  convalescence  until  full  health 
and  strength  are  regained,  or  count  only  up  to  the  time 
when  the  disease  proper  may  be  said  to  have  left  the 
person  ? 

These  difficulties  seem  to  disappear  when  our  statistics 
are  based  on  returns  from  benefit  societies,  or  from  state 
workingmen’s  insurance  against  sickness,  as  in  Germany. 
But  here  another  danger  meets  us,  viz.,  that  of  simulation. 
When  a workingman  is  lazy,  or  sees  hard  times  and 
lack  of  employment  approaching,  w’ill  he  not  feign  sick- 
ness in  order  to  draw  his  allowance  ? There  is  some 
reason  to  suspect  that  this  is  being  done  in  Germany  at 
the  present  time.  It  has  even  been  asserted  that  workmen 
injure  themselves  in  order  to  get  the  accident  insurance 
money.  Where  the  insurance  is  voluntary,  as  in  a benefit 
society,  there  is  a greater  or  less  feeling  of  honour,  and 
where  the  group  is  small  each  one  is  exposed  to  the  watch- 
fulness of  the  others  who  contribute  to  the  funds.  But 
where  the  group  is  large  and  the  funds  come  partly  or 


SICKNESS  AND  MORTALITY. 


173 


wholly  from  the  employers,  there  may  be  a feeling  of 
indulgence  or  sympathy  for  the  fellow-workman,  or  a 
sentiment  that  the  workman  is  only  getting  back  a part  of 
what  the  employer  has  been  squeezing  out  of  him.  Simu- 
lation, too,  may  be  more  or  less  unconscious,  consisting  in 
simple  exaggeration  of  aches  and  pains,  until  the  sufferer 
really  makes  himself  ill.  A very  rigid  and  severe  stan- 
dard of  duty  would  be  required  among  physicians  to 
guard  against  all  these  cases. ^ 

The  difficulties  of  classification  of  disease  have  already 
been  mentioned.  Even  if  we  had  a consistent  and  satis- 
factory classification,  there  would  be  numerous  errors  due 
to  the  ignorance  or  carelessness  of  physicians,  or  to  the 
obscurity  of  the  subject,  or  to  deaths  due  to  a complication 
of  causes.  Many  physicians  use  the  popular  rather  than 
the  scientific  name  of  diseases.  Some  vague  term  such  as 
fever,  heart-failure,  etc.,  is  used  to  designate  the  cause. 
Examples  of  ignorance  among  the  physicians  are  given  in 
the  following  quotation  from  the  Mortality  Statistics  of 
the  Tenth  Census,  I.,  p.  xii. : 

“ While  the  results  obtained  from  these  physicians’  returns  are  of 
interest  and  value,  it  must  be  constantly  borne  in  mind  that  they 
were  not  derived  solely  from  competent  medical  men,  but  from  all 
those  who  chose  to  call  themselves  physicians. 

“ When  the  cause  of  death  is  reported  as  ‘ Tecis,’  ‘ Spinalgitis’ 
‘ Colory  in  Phantum,’  ‘ Colria  fontim,’  ‘ Cholor  Rhear  Infantum,’ 
‘Hasphmar,’  ‘New  Moner  Fever,’  ‘No  Asian  tendin,’  ‘Struck  in  on 
the  aire  sells,’  ‘Yaller  ganders  of  the  Liver,’  ‘Unnowing,’  ‘Know 
Knowen  cause,’  etc.,  it  is  evidently  unsafe  to  lay  too  much  stress 
on  the  scientific  accuracy  of  the  diagnosis  by  the  same  reporter 
in  other  cases,  even  althongh  the  spelling  may  be  more  nearly 
correct.” 

When  we  come  to  statistics  of  disease  and  occupations, 
we  have  the  uncertainty  of  the  classification  of  occupa- 

1 See  Brooks,  A Weakness  in  the  German  “ Imperial  Socialism.”  Brit. 
Economic  Journal,  II.,  p.  302. 


174 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


tions  to  contend  against.  TMs  makes  international  com  - 
parison difficult.  Still  further,  the  question  arises,  how 
far  the  mortality  in  a particular  occupation  is  due  to  the 
work  itself,  to  the  circumstances  under  which  it  is  carried 
on,  to  the  character  of  the  persons  who  choose  it,  or  to 
the  general  social  and  economic  condition  of  the  commu- 
nity. These  must  he  carefully  distinguished.  If  the  mor- 
tality is  due  to  the  occupation  itself,  then  our  statistics 
may  point  to  the  necessity  of  taking  some  measures  to 
guard  against  dangers  due  to  that  particular  occupa- 
tion, as  accidents  from  machinery,  poisoning  from  fumes 
or  vapours,  etc.  Where  it  is  due  to  the  circumstances 
under  which  the  occupation  is  carried  on,  then  a limita- 
tion of  the  number  of  hours  of  labour,  or  provision  for 
ventilation,  etc.,  may  remedy  part  of  the  evil.  Where  it  is 
due  to  the  social  or  economic  condition  of  a whole  class  of 
persons  who  are  forced  into  such  occupation,  as  mendi- 
cants and  vagabonds,  then  the  problem  is  more  difficult 
and  requires  social  amelioration  or  reform.  Where  the 
mortality  is  due  simply  to  the  fact  that  the  occupation  is 
such  that  the  weak  and  infirm  can  enter  it,  then  nothing 
can  be  done.  Such  information  is  of  the  highest  social 
value,  but  it  must  be  carefully  analyzed. 

Duration  of  Life.  This  term  has  been  sufficiently  ex- 
plained, but  we  have  a number  of  figures  which  are  often 
confused  with  it. 

Comparative  Death-rates.  In  the  first  place,  the  death- 
rate  is  sometimes  supposed  to  be  an  indication  of  the 
average  length  of  life.  If  we  had  a death-rate  of  40  per 
miUe,  it  would  mean  that  one  out  of  every  25  of  the  popu- 
lation died  each  year.  In  another  country,  if  we  had  a 
death-rate  of  30  per  mille,  it  would  mean  that  one  out  of 
every  33  inhabitants  died  each  year.  It  is  sometimes  sup- 
posed that  these  figures  indicate  that  life  is  longer  in  the 
second  country  than  in  the  first,  and  in  the  proportion  of 
33  to  25.  But  this  is  fallacious.  Only  in  case  of  a popu- 


SICKNESS  AND  MORTALITY. 


175 


lation  neither  increasing  nor  decreasing,  and  dying  regu- 
larly from  year  to  year,  would  the  death-rate  indicate 
anything  as  to  the  duration  of  life.  But  as  a matter  of 
fact,  population  is  generally  increasing,  and  death-rates 
are  very  different  at  different  ages.  In  one  country  the 
deaths  may  be  largely  of  children,  and  in  another  of  adult 
persons,  so  that  even  if  the  rate  were  the  same,  the 
expectation  of  life  would  be  very  different  in  the 
two.  In  England,  the  expectation  of  life  for  males  was 
41.35  during  the  decade  1871-80,  while  one  in  44.2  died 
annually. 

Average  Age  of  the  Dying.  In  the  second  place,  we  can 
take  the  ages  of  those  who  have  died  during  the  year,  add 
them  together,  and  divide  by  the  number  of  the  deceased. 
This  gives  what  is  called  the  “ average  age  of  the  dying,” 
and  is  sometimes  said  to  indicate  the  average  length  of 
life.  This,  however,  is  evidently  on  the  supposition  that 
the  deaths  are  regularly  distributed  throughout  a station- 
ary population.  But  in  an  ordinary  population  this 
average  age  of  the  dying  is  affected  by  so  many  different 
things,  that  it  indicates  nothing  in  respect  to  the  ex- 
pectation of  life.  Where  a generation  is  weakened, 
either  because  it  started  with  a small  number  of  births,  or 
on  account  of  some  epidemic  or  war  which  has  fallen 
heavily  upon  it,  such  generation  would  contribute  less 
than  it  ought  to  the  total  number  of  dying.  For  instance, 
the  civil  war  of  1861  to  ’65  swept  away  a large  number  of 
men  of  the  ages  between  20  and  30.  Men  of  that  genera- 
tion would  now  be  between  50  and  60,  and  they  contribute 
less  than  their  proper  share  to  the  number  of  the  dying. 
This  decreases  the  average  age  of  the  dying  at  the  present 
time,  although  the  event  happened  30  years  ago.  So  a 
hard,  cold  year,  which  sweeps  away  the  old  people,  in- 
creases the  average  age  of  the  dying,  while  a prosperous 
year,  resulting  in  a large  number  of  births,  and  conse- 
quently an  increased  number  of  deaths  among  infants. 


176 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


decreases  it.  Engel  gives  the  following  striking  example 
for  Prussia : ^ 


Tears. 

In  1829,  hard,  cold  year,  average  age  of  dying  was  . . 31.31 

1831,  cholera  year,  average  age  of  dying  was  . . . 31.24 

1847,  scarcity  year,  average  age  of  dying  was  . . . 28.29 
1855,  scarcity  year,  average  age  of  dying  was  . . . 29.82 

1851,  prosperous  year,  average  age  of  dying  was  . . 25.60 

1860,  prosperous  year,  average  age  of  dying  was  . . 25.17 


So  also,  if  a population  were  increasing,  it  is  evident 
that  the  average  age  of  the  dying  would  be  pulled  down 
because  the  death-rate  would  be  applied  to  a constantly 
increasing  number  in  the  lower  age  classes.  Emigration 
and  immigration  would  evidently  affect  the  average  age 
of  the  dying  without  any  reference  whatsoever  to  the  sani- 
tary condition  of  the  community.  So  also,  as  Newsholme^ 
points  out,  “ it  would  be  absurd  to  draw  any  inferences 
from  a comparison  of  the  mean  ages  at  death  of  bishops 
and  curates,  as  men  do  not  usually  become  bishops  till 
they  have  passed  the  middle  period  of  life.”  “The  low 
mean  age  at  death  of  dressmakers  has  been  adduced  as  a 
proof  of  the  unhealthy  character  of  their  emplojunent. 
Without  denying  the  latter  fact,  the  low  mean  age  at  death 
is  no  more  a proof  of  their  insanitary  circumstances  than 
is  a low  mean  age  at  death  among  the  pupils  in  a boarding- 
school.” 

Average  Age  of  the  Living.  In  the  third  place,  by  a 
census  we  can  get  the  average  age  of  the  living.  This 
also  is  sometimes  confused  with  the  average  duration  of 
life,  but  it  is  fallacious  for  precisely  the  same  reasons  as 
have  just  been  mentioned  when  speaking  of  the  average 
age  of  the  dying.  ^ If  both  of  these  corresponded  with 
the  average  duration  of  life,  then  they  should  correspond 

1 Preuss.  Zeitschrift,  1861,  p.  335.  - Vital  Statistics,  p.  247. 

® See  ante,  p.  50. 


SICKNESS  AND  MORTALITY. 


177 


to  each  other.  How  widely  they  differ  is  shown  by  the 
following  table  : 

Average  Age  of  Average  Age  of 
Dying  — Tears.  Living  — Years. 


Prussia 31.10  27.50 

Denmark 40.49  27.85 

Sweden 40.66  27.66 

England  . 36.92  25.31 

Holland 34.72  27.76 

Belgium 38.35  28.63 

Prance 40.36  31.06 


Reflective  Analysis. 

Sickness  and  mortality  bring  great  loss  to  the  commu- 
nity. Even  sickness  and  death  among  children,  while 
they  do  not  directly  affect  the  productive  power  of  the 
community,  are  a loss  because  the  child  has  to  be  replaced 
by  a new  birth,  and  thus  the  expense  of  bringing  the 
child  up  is  lost.  A still  greater  economic  loss  is  caused 
by  the  preventible  sickness  and  mortality  from  15  to  45 
years  of  age.  According  to  Dr.  Farr’s  English  Life 
Table,  of  a million  persons  born,  72,397  die  between  the 
ages  of  15  and  45  as  the  result  of  phthisis,  and  24,805 
as  the  result  of  zymotic  diseases.  If  we  take  the  money 
value  of  each  person  aged  15  to  45  as  200  pounds  sterling, 
the  pecuniary  loss  from  phthisis  alone  is  14,479,400  Z. 
It  is  therefore  of  great  importance  to  the  community 
that  the  amount  of  sickness  and  mortality  should  decrease. 
A comparison  between  the  annual  deaths  per  million  in 
England  during  the  two  decades  1861-70  and  1871-80 
shows  that  the  deaths  from  fever  had  decreased  401  per 
million  and  from  phthisis  359  per  million.  Every  decrease 
of  this  sort  is  a direct  gain  to  the  community.  ^ 

One  use  of  life  tables  is  to  show  whether  the  average 
duration  of  human  life  is  increasing  or  decreasing.  From 
such  evidence  as  we  can  get,  it  is  probable  that  it  is 
steadily  increasing.  In  England,  if  we  compare  the  ex- 
1 Newsholme,  Vital  Statistics,  pp.  279,  273. 

M 


178 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


pectation  of  life  at  birth  according  to  Dr.  Farr’s  table, 
1838-54,  with  that  of  Dr.  Ogle’s  table,  1871-81,  the  in- 
crease for  males  has  been  1.44  years,  and  for  females  2.77 
years.  By  the  old  life  table  one-half  out  of  a million 
males  born  would  be  dead  before  the  end  of  the  45th  year  ; 
by  the  new  table  one-half  would  not  have  died  until 
after  the  end  of  the  47th  year.  It  is  true  that  the  death- 
rate  has  increased  for  males  over  35  and  for  females  over 
45,  but  notwithstanding  this,  the  survivors  at  the  end  of 
each  year  by  the  new  table  exceed  the  survivors  by  the 
old  table  at  every  age  up  to  the  67th  year.  After  that 
date  the  survivors  at  the  end  of  each  subsequent  year 
are  more  numerous  by  the  old  than  by  the  new  table. 
This  points  to  the  fact  that  the  survivors  at  the  end  of 
the  45th  year  are  so  much  more  numerous  than  they 
were  under  the  rate  of  mortality  prevailing  in  1838-54, 
that  they  can  support  the  higher  mortality  of  after  years 
for  a considerable  period  and  yet  retain  their  numerical 
superiority.  In  the  same  mamier  it  is  shown  that  the 
length  of  human  life  has  increased  in  France,  Sweden, 
Holland,  Belgium,  and  Norway.^ 

The  average  duration  of  human  life  has  great  economic 
importance.  Engel  reckoned  in  1855  that  the  population 
of  Prussia,  consisting  of  17,702,831  individuals,  had  lived 
a total  of  444,281,631  years,  of  wliich  210,792,890  were 
in  the  unproductive  ages  under  15  and  over  70  ; while 
233,488,741  were  in  the  productive  ages  between  15  and 
70.  These  latter  years  have  to  support  not  only  them- 
selves but  an  almost  equal  number  of  unproductive  ones. 
Suppose  now  that  the  productive  years  should  be  reduced 
by  reducing  the  average  duration  of  life  so  that  they 
amounted  to  only  200,000,000.  It  is  true  that  the  total 
number  of  years  to  be  supported  would  also  be  reduced^ 
so  that  instead  of  444,281,631  there  would  be  only 

1 Newsholme,  Vital  Statistics,  p.  268.  Levasseur,  La  Pop.  fran^aise, 
II.,  p.  309. 


SICKNESS  AND  MORTALITY. 


179 


410,792,890  years.  But  these  years  must  now  be  sup- 
ported by  200,000,000  years  instead  of  233,488,741,  so  that 
the  pressure  on  each  individual  is  greater.  In  quintes- 
sence : the  shorter  the  mean  duration  of  life,  the  more  dif- 
ficult it  is  for  a generation  to  pay  the  cost  of  bringing 
itself  into  existence.^ 

This  subject  has  been  pursued  in  somewhat  greater 
detail  by  Dr.  Ogle  in  England.  He  shows  by  a table 
of  death-rates  that  the  mean  annual  mortality  has  de- 
clined from  the  period  1841-70  to  the  period  1881-85 
by  12.44  per  cent  for  males  and  14.95  per  cent  for 
females.  This  gain  is  due  principally  to  less  mortality 
among  children,  for,  as  already  said,  males  over  35  and 
females  over  45  have  a greater  mortality  than  formerly. 
It  has  consequently  been  affirmed  not  only  that  this 
decrease  in  the  death-rate  is  no  economic  benefit,  but  still 
further  that  by  preserving  the  weak  and  unsound  constitu- 
tions a higher  death-rate  results  in  adult  life.  This,  how- 
ever, gives  a false  impression.  The  extinction  of  any 
disease  might  theoretically  produce  two  results  on  the 
mean  duration  of  life.  Either  the  proportion  of  deaths 
from  other  causes  would  remain  as  before  ; or  if  one 
disease  were  annihilated  (as,  for  instance,  small-pox),  other 
diseases  (as  scarlet  fever  and  measles)  would  become 
more  fatal,  thus  counterbalancing  to  a greater  or  less 
extent  the  gain.  If  all  the  deaths  now  caused  by  violence 
were  to  cease,  the  persons  thus  saved  would  doubtless 
share  the  rate  of  mortality  of  the  whole  community.  If 
again  the  causes  of  death  annihilated  were  those  peculiar 
to  children  in  the  first  year  of  life,  the  actual  mortality 
would  necessarily  be  increased  at  the  higher  ages  ; for  all 
men  must  die  at  some  time,  and  the  larger  the  number 
escaping  the  dangers  of  childhood,  the  more  numerous 
will  be  the  victims  in  adult  life.^  The  higher  rate  of 

iPreiiss.  Zeitsclirift,  1861,  p.  323. 

2 Newsholme,  Vital  Statistics,  p.  265. 


180 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


mortality  may,  of  course,  be  due  to  the  survival  of  the 
weakly,  although  Dr.  Ogle  finds  two  other  possible  causes 
of  this  increased  adult  mortality,  viz.,  the  increasing 
severity  of  competition  among  adults,  resulting  in  greater 
wear  and  tear  on  life  ; and  the  ever-increasing  proportion 
which  flocks  to  share  in  city  life.  But,  however  this  may 
be,  if  we  sum  up  the  additional  years  of  life  saved  by  the 
decreased  death-rate,  we  shall  find  that  in  the  case  of 
males  66  per  cent,  and  of  females  65  per  cent,  of  the  years 
gained  are  lived  between  25  and  65. 

Dr.  Ogle  gives  a further  calculation,  showing  the  actual 
annual  gain  owing  to  the  lower  death-rate  in  1871-80. 
The  mean  annual  number  of  births  in  England  and  Wales 
in  1871-80  was  858,878.  If  these  children  be  traced 
through  life,  the  changes  occurring  in  the  death-rates 
1871-80,  as  compared  with  1838-54,  will  result  in  an 
addition  of  1,800,047  years  of  life  shared  among  them  ; 
and  since  this  number  of  births  occurs  annually,  it  may 
be  reasonably  inferred  that  there  is  an  annual  addition 
of  nearly  2,000,000  years  of  life  'to  the  community,  the 
greater  share  in  which  must  be  ascribed  to  sanitary 
measures.^ 

These  facts  would  seem  to  be  an  answer  to  those  per- 
sons who  maintain  that  by  our  sanitary  measures,  hospitals 
and  charitable  relief,  we  are  simply  promoting  the  sur- 
vival of  the  unfittest  and  thus  weakening  the  human  race  ; 
for  it  appears  that  a large  proportion  of  those  born  sur- 
vive to  the  non-dependent  or  useful  ages.  We  must  also 
consider  the  diminution  of  suffering  brought  about  by  the 
decrease  of  disease,  which  counts  in  the  sum  total  of 
human  happiness. 


1 Newsholme,  p.  272. 


Book  II. 

SOCIAL. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

SOCIAL  CONDITION. 

(families  and  dwellings,  education,  religious  confession,  and 

OCCUPATIONS.) 

Sociological  Purpose. 

We  liave  reviewed  the  principal  demographic  facts 
concerning  population — sex,  age,  and  conjugal  condition. 
We  have  also  reviewed  those  great  phenomena,  births, 
marriages,  deaths,  sickness,  and  mortality,  which  affect 
the  population  of  the  world.  But  we  have  not  yet 
exhausted  the  range  of  sociological  inquiry,  or  the  func- 
tion of  statistics  in  such  inquiry.  Populations  differ 
from  each  other  in  numerous  ways.  Their  composition 
shows  a great  variety  of  elements  combined  in  a great 
variety  of  ways.  We  have  differences  of  religious  con- 
fession, of  education,  of  social  position,  of  occupation,  and 
of  family  life.  These  combined  give  a certain  impress 
which  we  designate  as  social  condition.  Such  condition 
involves,  of  course,  the  question  of  civilization,  i.e.,  the 
happiness  and  prosperity  of  the  community.  Each  fact 

181 


182 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


has  important  sociological  connections.  Occupation,  illit- 
eracy, and  social  position  affect  births,  marriages,  deaths, 
and  all  other  social  statistics.  The  family  is  the  impor- 
tant factor  in  the  growth  of  population.  Family  life  is 
the  foundation  of  the  moral  life  of  the  community.  Eco- 
nomic condition  decides  often  the  question  of  social  prog- 
ress. 

The  general  sociological  purpose  of  all  statistical  inquiry 
is  to  reveal  the  existence  of  social  organization.  There 
is  no  doubt  that  the  constitution  of  the  family,  religious 
confession,  occupation,  and  economic  condition  are  elements 
in  such  organization.  Social  condition  stratifies  the  com- 
munity in  more  directions  than  we  are  aware  of.  If  we 
could  have  exposed  before  us  the  real  motives  of  men’s 
actions,  we  should  see  in  many  cases  how  the  narrow  bond 
of  family  relation  makes  itself  felt  in  the  broader  mani- 
festations of  social  life.  Such  connection  it  is  not  easy 
to  depict  with  accuracy,  because  the  influence  is  often 
unconscious,  when  conscious  is  often  concealed,  and  sel- 
dom (in  modern  times)  manifests  itself  in  large  or  domi- 
nant groups.  Religious  confession,  on  the  other  hand, 
does  result  in  a classification  of  population,  and  only  a little 
while  back  such  differences  led  to  the  most  bitter  polit- 
ical and  international  struggles.  No  one  can  doubt  that 
in  modern  times,  although  the  political  significance  of 
difference  in  religious  confession  has  nominally  been  sup- 
pressed, in  reality  it  is  still  present  and  its  social  signifi- 
cance is  in  many  communities  enormous.  Much  more 
can  be  said  of  the  importance  of  occupation  and  economic 
condition  in  classifying  the  community.  Here  we  have 
the  associations  and  the  antitheses  implied  in  the  terms 
capitalists  and  labourers,  employers  and  workmen,  masters 
and  domestic  servants,  the  rich  and  the  poor,  the  produc- 
tive and  the  unproductive  classes,  plutocracy  and  wage- 
slavery.  Statistical  classification  is  not  always  exact  in 
these  directions,  for  the  terms  themselves  are  not  precise, 


SOCIAL  CONDITION. 


183 


but  such  classification  is  essential  to  the  understanding  of 
modern  industrial  society. 

To  connect  these  facts  of  social  condition  with  the 
physical  environment  is  not  always  easy,  although  in  the 
study  of  city  life  a relation  of  this  sort  is  often  manifest. 
Their  connection  with  each  other  and  with  other  social 
phenomena  (social  environment),  as  already  said,  is  strih- 
ing.  Relations  of  co-existence  and  of  sequence  meet  us  on 
every  side.  This  is  the  great  field  of  practical  social  re- 
form, and  all  effort  at  reform  implies  a knowledge  of  the 
cause  of  the  evil  and  the  belief  that  such  cause  can  be 
modified,  changed,  or  removed.  The  sociological  purpose 
of  Statistics  in  this  chapter  cannot  be  mistaken  nor  should 
it  be  underestimated.  We  have  to  do  with  phenomena 
of  considerable  difficulty  to  grasp  and  gauge.  They  par- 
take of  the  complexity  of  social  life,  and  thus  are  difficult 
to  classify  and  arrange.  The  inter-relations  are  numerous 
and  it  is  not  easy  to  disentangle  cause  and  effect.  Often 
all  we  can  do  is  to  analyze  the  facts  and  wait  for  future 
knowledge  to  show  the  proper  correlation.  Social  statis- 
tics present  the  most  delicate  questions  of  correct  analysis 
and  interpretation,  for  the  facts  themselves  are  so  elusive 
as  to  escape  exact  expression.  It  is  the  purpose  of  this 
chapter  to  present  these  facts  in  as  scientific  a way  as 
possible. 

Statistical  Bata. 

Families.  All  social  conditions  have  intimate  connec- 
tion with  the  family  and  family  life.  Hence,  as  a basis 
for  our  social  statistics,  we  can  commence  with  an  enumer- 
ation of  families,  and  a description  of  the  composition 
of  the  family  as  to  the  number  of  persons.  The  number 
living  alone  and  living  in  families  is  a matter  of  consider- 
able interest  as  showing  the  habits  of  the  people  and  their 
inclination  to  family  life.  The  varying  size  of  families  is 
instructive  as  showing  the  fecundity  of  the  population. 


184 


STATISTICS  AOT)  SOCIOLOGY. 


and  the  disposition  to  undertake  or  to  avoid  the  burdens 
of  married  life.  The  statistics  are  not  altogether  exact, 
because  under  the  term  family  it  is  necessary  to  include 
persons  living  alone,  as  well  as  agglomerations  of  persons, 
such  as  hotels,  schools,  and  asylums.  For  whole  countries, 
however,  these  latter  cases  are  not  important. 

In  Europe,  with  the  exception  of  France,  there  are 
always  four  or  more  persons  to  a family.  In  France  in 
1891  there  were  10,662,423  households  or  families  in  a 
population  of  38,133,385,  giving  an  average  of  3.57  persons 
to  a family.  In  1861  the  average  was  3.8,  and  in  1851, 
3.9.  This  steady  decrease  is  due  to  the  small  number 
of  births. 

In  Germany,  in  1890,  there  were  10,617,923  households, 
giving  4.66  persons  to  a family.  Among  these  house- 
holds, 747,689  were  single  persons  living  alone,  33,674 
were  institutions,  and  9,836,560  were  ordinary  families  of 
two  or  more  persons.^ 

In  Austria  the  number  of  persons  to  a family  was  4.84 ; 
in  Switzerland,  4.6;  in  England,  4.7;  in  Scotland,  4.6; 
and  in  Ireland,  5 persons  to  a family.  ^ 

In  the  United  States  the  total  number  of  families,  in 
1890,  was  12,690,152,  with  an  aggregate  population  of 
62,622,250,  or  4.93  persons  on  the  average  to  each  family. 
In  1880  the  average  size  of  family  was  5.04  ; in  1870  it  was 
5.09  ; in  1860  it  was  5.28  ; and  in  1850  it  was  5.55.  The 
decrease  in  the  North  Atlantic  division  is  particularly 
marked,  the  average  size  of  family  in  1890  being  4.69, 
against  5.45  in  1850.  In  the  North  Central  division 
there  has  also  been  a considerable  decrease,  from  5.69 
in  1850  to  4.86  in  1890.  In  the  extreme  Western  states 
there  is  a tendency  to  increase.  In  newly  settled  terri- 
tories the  average  size  of  family  is  small  at  first,  but 

1 Allg.  Stat.  Archiv,  Dritter  Jahrgang,  p.  405. 

2 Census  of  Ireland,  p.  530.  Single  persons  seem  to  be  included  in  the 
families  as  “ visitors.” 


SOCIAL  CONDITION. 


185 


increases  steadily  as  settlement  goes  on.  In  the  Western 
division  the  average  for  1890  was  4.88,  against  4.18  in 
1850.  When  the  population  becomes  more  or  less  urban 
in  character  the  maximum  is  reached,  and  a constantly 
receding  average  is  likely  to  be  shown  at  each  census 
thereafter.  This  is  now  the  case  with  all  the  older 
commonwealths  of  the  United  States  except  the  Southern, 
where  the  coloured  element  is  large.  In  these  latter, 
although  there  has  been  a decrease  in  1890  as  compared 
with  1850,  there  has  been  a general  increase  since  1870. 
For  instance,  in  the  South  Atlantic  division  the  average 
size  of  family  in  Virginia  has  increased  from  5.29  in 
1870  to  5.44  in  1890;  in  North  Carolina,  from  5.20  to 
5.27  ; in  South  Carolina,  from  4.67  to  5.16;  in  Georgia, 
from  4.98  to  5.22;  and  in  Florida,  from  4.77  to  4.89, 
although  there  has  been  a slight  decrease  in  the  latter 
since  1880.  In  the  South  Central  division  the  same 
increase  is  shown;  in  Alabama,  from  4.92  in  1870  to 
5.27  in  1890;  in  Mississippi,  from  4.96  to  5.35;  and  in 
Louisiana,  from  4.60  to  5.22.  In  Texas  and  Arkansas 
an  increase  is  also  noticed,  due  partly,  no  doubt,  to  the 
great  growth  of  population  since  1870. 

In  cities  there  is  a very  marked  tendency  for  the  size  of 
the  family  to  decrease.  In  New  York  the  average  size  of 
a family  decreased  from  4.96  in  1880  to  4.84  in  1890;  in 
Brooklyn,  from  4. 92  to  4.72  ; in  Philadelphia,  from  5.13  to 
5.10;  in  St.  Louis,  from  5.38  to  4.92;  and  in  Chicago, 
from  5.19  to  4.99. ^ 

Families  of  Different  Size.  Families  may  be  analyzed 
according  to  the  number  containing  a specified  number 
of  persons.  In  France,  for  instance,  out  of  100  house- 
holds, 14  consisted  of  single  individuals,  41.3  of  from 
two  to  three  individuals,  29.8  of  four  to  five  individuals 
and  14.5  of  six  or  more  individuals.  For  the  United 
States  we  have  the  following  table,  showing  interesting 
1 Compendium  of  the  Eleventh  Census,  Part  I.,  p.  cxi. 


186 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


differences  for  different  sections  of  the  country  and  for 
cities  : 


One 

Two  to  Six 

Seven  to  Ten 

Eleven 

Person. 

Persons. 

Persons. 

and  over. 

Per  Cent. 

Per  Cent. 

Per  Cent. 

Per  Cent. 

The  United  States  . . . 

3.63 

73.33 

20.97 

2.07 

North  Atlantic  division . 

3.23 

78.05 

17.00 

1.72 

South  Atlantic  division  . 

3.45 

67.70 

26.16 

2.69 

North  Central  division  . 

3.43 

74.96 

19.84 

1.77 

South  Central  division  . 

3.00 

67.40 

26.97 

2.63 

Western  division  . . . 

10.15 

68.16 

18.85 

2.84 

Cities : 

New  York 

3.08 

77.38 

17.65 

1.89 

Chicago 

1.89 

76.49 

19.58 

2.04 

Philadelphia  .... 

1.91 

74.67 

21.09 

2.33 

Brooklyn 

2.71 

78.37 

17.53 

1.39 

St.  Louis 

4.64 

73.22 

19.82 

2.32 

If  we  look  at  different  sections  of  the  United  States  we 
find  the  largest  number  of  families  of  one  person  in  the 
Western  division.  This  is  due,  of  course,  to  the  mining 
and  frontier  population  of  that  region.  The  other  notice- 
able thing  is,  that,  while  in  the  North  Atlantic  and  North 
Central  divisions  the  moderate-sized  families  of  from  two 
to  six  persons  constitute  nearly  three-quarters  of  the  total 
number,  in  the  South  Atlantic  and  South  Central  divisions 
they  constitute  only  two-thirds.  The  complementary  re- 
lations are  seen  in  the  large  families,  which  are  more 
numerous  in  the  South  than  in  the  North.  This  is  due 
probably  to  the  large  negro  families  in  the  South,  and  the 
urban  population  of  the  North,  for  in  cities  the  size  of 
family  is  small.  This  latter  fact  is  apparent  in  the  second 
part  of  the  table,  showing  the  large  percentage  of  moderate- 
sized families  of  from  two  to  six  persons  in  the  five  largest 
cities  of  the  United  States.  In  some  industrial  cities,  not 
shown  in  the  table,  the  proportion  of  moderate-sized  fam- 
ilies of  from  two  to  six  persons  rmis  as  high  as  79  or  80 
per  cent.  Such  is  the  case  with  Indianapolis,  Ind., 
Newark,  N.J.,  and  Providence,  R.I.  At  the  other  ex- 
treme stands  Omaha,  Neb.,  showing  65  per  cent  of  mod- 


SOCIAL  CONDITION. 


187 


erate-sized  families,  and  28  per  cent  of  large  families  of 
from  seven  to  ten  persons. 

The  number  of  families  of  different  size  is  determined 
first  of  all  by  the  fecundity  of  the  population.  This  is 
shown  by  comparing  the  14  per  cent  of  families  consisting 
of  one  individual  in  France,  with  the  7 per  cent  of  such 
families  in  Germany,  and  the  3.63  per  cent  in  the  United 
States.  It  is  indicative,  in  the  second  place,  of  the  general 
character  of  the  population,  for  we  find  the  largest  families 
in  the  rural  districts.  In  France,  for  instance,  families 
having  seven  children  and  more  are  found  principally  in 
Corsica,  Brittany,  Poitou,  the  lower  Pyrenees,  the  Massif 
Central,  and  the  Alpine  region,  all  agricultural  communi- 
ties, and  in  three  departments  of  the  North. ^ 

Dwellings.  The  number  and  kind  of  houses  the  people 
occupy,  and  the  number  of  families  and  persons  to  a house, 
are  important  indications  of  the  social  condition  of  the 
community.  In  England  there  were  5,451,497  inhabited 
houses,  372,184  uninhabited,  and  38,387  building.  This 
made  1.1  families  and  5.3  persons  to  an  inhabited  house. 
In  Scotland  there  were  1.07  families  and  4.92  persons;  in 
Ireland,  1.07  families  and  5.4  persons;  in  Germany,  1.8 
families  and  8.45  persons  ; in  Austria,  1.6  families  and 
7.5  persons;  in  France,  1.4  families  and  5 persons  to  a 
house.  In  the  United  States  there  were  11,483,318  occu- 
pied dwellings,  or  1.1  families,  and  5.45  persons  to  a dwell- 
ing. These  figures  show  that  everywhere  there  are  more 
families  than  dwellings,  z.e.,  that  sometimes  two  or  more 
families  must  live  in  the  same  house.  Thus,  in  the  United 
States  there  are  1,206,834,  or  10.5  per  cent  more  families 
than  dwellings.  In  the  agricultural  states  of  the  South 
the  excess  is  very  small,  only  3.2  per  cent;  while  in  the 
North  Atlantic  division  it  is  25.3  per  cent;  in  Massachu- 
setts, 35  per  cent;  in  Khode  Island,  43.5  per  cent;  and  in 
New  York,  46  per  cent. 

1 Levasseur,  La  Pop.  fran§aise,  III.,  p.  166. 


188 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


It  is,  of  course,  in  cities  that  we  find  the  largest  num- 
ber of  families  and  persons  to  a house.  The  cities,  indeed, 
vary  in  this  respect.  Philadelphia  has  almost  as  many 
houses  as  families,  while  in  New  York  there  are  3.82  fam- 
ilies and  18.5  persons  to  a house.  There  is  great  con- 
centration in  some  of  the  smaller  cities  also,  as  in  Fall 
River,  where  there  are  11.2  persons  to  a dwelling.  In 
some  of  the  wards  of  New  York  City  concentration  is 
still  greater.  In  the  district  below  East  14th  Street  there 
are  6.39  families,  and  30.27  persons  to  a dwelling.  The 
highest  number  is  in  the  Tenth  Ward,  namely,  7.85  fami- 
lies, and  38.50  persons  to  a dwelling.  In  three  wards 
only  is  the  average  number  of  families  to  a dwelling  less 
than  two  ; in  two  wards  it  is  between  two  and  three  ; 
in  nine  wards,  between  three  and  four ; in  three  wards, 
between  four  and  five ; in  two  wards,  between  five 
and  six  ; in  four  wards,  between  six  and  seven  ; and 
in  one  ward  it  is  very  nearly  eight.  In  New  York,  46 
per  cent  of  the  dwellings  have  one  family,  11  per  cent 
have  two  families,  and  43  per  cent  have  three  families  and 
over.  Brooklyn  stands  next  to  New  York,  51  per  cent  of 
the  dwellings  having  one  family,  23  per  cent  having  two 
families,  and  26  per  cent,  three  or  more  families.^  New 
York  makes  a particularly  bad  showing,  because  the  tene- 
ment house  population  is  concentrated  on  the  island  while 
the  ordinary  middle  class  is  scattered  in  neighbouring 
towns  and  states. 

For  English  cities,  the  census  of  1891  reported  only  7.72 
persons  per  inhabited  house  in  London ; 7.33  in  New- 
castle-upon-Tyne; 5.68  in  Liverpool;  and  5.04  in  Man- 
chester. ^ 

Kind  of  Dwelling.  The  mere  enumeration  of  the  num- 
ber of  houses  does  not  give  us  very  satisfactory  informa- 
tion of  the  condition  of  the  people.  In  the  census  every 

1 Compendium  of  the  Eleventh  Census,  Part  I.,  pp.  cxiv  and  cxx. 

* Census  of  England,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  21. 


SOCIAL  CONDITION, 


189 


inhabited  building  is  a bouse,  from  the  stone  castle  to  the 
mud  hovel.  Even  where  we  ascertain  the  number  of  fam- 
ilies or  of  persons  to  a house,  the  information  is  not  very- 
definite,  for  a modern  apartment  house  may  contain  more 
than  the  worst  crowded  tenement  house.  It  is,  however, 
extremely  difiicult  to  classify  houses  in  such  a way  as  to 
indicate  their  real  value  as  dwellings.  Some  attempts  have 
been  made  in  various  countries  which  will  be  noted  here. 

In  Ireland  all  houses  are  classified  in  four  divisions, 
according  to  size,  as  shown  by  the  number  of  rooms ; ac- 
cording to  quality,  as  shown  by  the  number  of  windows 
in  front ; and  according  to  solidity  and  durability,  as 
shown  by  the  material  of  the  walls  and  roof. 

In  the  lowest  of  the  four  classes  are  comprised  houses 
built  of  mud  or  perishable  material,  ha-ving  only  one  room 
and  -window  ; in  the  third  class,  a better  description  of 
house,  with  from  one  to  four  rooms  and  windows  ; in  the 
second,  what  might  be  considered  a good  farm  house, 
having  from  five  to  nine  rooms  and  windows  ; and  in  the 
first  class  all  houses  of  a better  description  than  the 
preceding. 

The  number  of  houses  of  different  classes  was : — First 
class,  70,740  (8.1  per  cent)  ; second  class,  466,632  (53.6 
per  cent) ; third  class,  312,589  (35.9  per  cent)  ; and 
fourth  class,  20,617  (2.4  per  cent). 

The  mud  hovels  (fourth  class)  are  almost  exclusively  in 
the  rural  districts.  The  houses  of  the  third  class  are 
mostly  in  the  rural  districts.  On  the  other  hand,  nearly 
one-half  of  the  houses  of  the  first  class  are  in  the  civic 
districts.  The  extraordinary  thing  is  the  20,617  mud 
hovels  having  only  one  room  and  window,  inhabited  by 
20,729  families.  The  number  of  these  mud  cabins,  how- 
ever, is  only  one-half  what  it  was  in  1881,  and  considerably 
less  than  one-fourth  of  the  number  in  1861.  In  the  county 
of  Kerry,  indeed,  they  still  comprise  7.9  per  cent,  and 
in  the  county  of  Limerick  6 per  cent  of  all  the  houses.  In 


190 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


the  counties  of  Mayo  and  Donegal,  the  houses  of  the  third 
class  are  more  than  one-half  of  the  whole. 

The  Irish  census  tries  to  combine  the  style  of  house 
with  the  number  of  families  occupying  the  house.  For 
this  purpose,  it  calculates  what  it  calls  house  accommo- 
dation. House  accommodation  is  arranged  under  four 
classes,  viz. : 

First  Class  accommodation,  consisting  of  first  class 
houses  occupied  by  one  family. 

Second  Class  accommodation,  consisting  of  second  class 
houses  occupied  by  one  family,  or  of  first  class  houses 
occupied  by  two  or  three  families. 

Third  Class  accommodation,  comprising  third  class 
houses  with  one  family  each,  or  second  class  houses  with 
two  or  three  families,  or  first  class  houses  occupied  by 
four  or  five  families. 

Fourth  Class  accommodation  includes  all  fourth  class 
houses,  third  class  houses  with  more  than  one  family, 
second  class  houses  with  four  or  more  families,  and  first 
class  houses  inhabited  by  six  or  more  families. 

This  classification  gives  us  a slightly  different  result 
from  the  above.  Specimens  of  the  variations  in  different 
counties  are  given  in  the  following  table,  showing  the 
percentage  of  families  having  each  class  of  house  accom- 
modation; 


First  Class. 

Second  Class. 

Third  Class. 

Fourth  Class. 

Per  Cent. 

Per  Cent. 

Per  Cent. 

Per  Cent. 

All  Ireland  .... 

5.3 

47.7 

43.3 

3.7 

County  Mayo  . . 

1.9 

22.5 

71.0 

4.6 

County  Kerry  . . 

2.8 

35.6 

51.6 

10.0 

County  Dublin . . 

12.2 

52.3' 

31.3 

4.2 

County  Tipperary . 

6.0 

55.9 

34.1 

4.0 

This  table  gives  a very  fair  idea  of  the  differences  in 
house  accommodation  between  a poor  agricultural  county 
of  West  Ireland  like  Kerry  or  Mayo,  and  an  urban  county 
like  Dubhn.i 

1 Census  of  Ireland,  1891,  General  Keport,  pp.  lx  and  167. 


SOCIAL  CONDITION. 


191 


In  Scotland  they  adopt  a different  system,  classifying 
the  houses  according  to  the  number  of  rooms.  In  1891 
there  were  817,568  houses  containing  2,649,186  rooms, 
making  an  average  of  3.24  rooms  to  a house,  and  1.52 
persons  to  a room.  In  towns,  each  house  has  an  average 
of  3.02  rooms,  and  1.62  persons  to  a room;  in  villages, 
each  has  an  average  of  3.09  rooms,  and  1.55  persons  to  a 
room  ; and  in  the  rural  districts,  each  has  an  average  of 
3.95  rooms,  and  1.28  persons  to  a room. 

In  Scotland,  in  1891,  there  were  398  families  registered 
as  living  m one  room  with  no  window,  and  193,337 
families  (22  per  cent)  as  living  in  one  room  with  window. 
House  accommodation  is,  however,  steadily  improving. 
In  1861  there  were  7,964  families  occupying  each  one 
room  with  no  window,  while  34  per  cent  of  the  families 
occupied  each  one  room  with  window.^ 

In  England  they  have  still  another  method  of  measur- 
ing house  accommodation.  They  distinguish  between  a 
house  and  a tenement,  the  latter  being  any  part  of  a house 
separately  occupied  either  hy  the  owner  or  by  a tenant. 
Tenements  were  classified  according  to  the  number  of 
rooms,  and  it  was  found  that  4.7  per  cent  were  one-room, 
and  11.4  per  cent  were  two-room,  tenements.  Still  fur- 
ther, the  number  of  persons  to  each  room  was  given. 
Where  there  were  more  than  two  persons  to  a room  the 
tenement  was  said  to  be  “overcrowded.”  Taking  the 
tenements  of  less  than  five  rooms,  it  was  found  that  11.23 
per  cent  of  the  total  population  were  living  in  such  over- 
crowded tenements.  The  proportion  in  urban  districts 
was  12.31  per  cent,  and  in  some  cities  it  ran  as  high  as  35 
and  40  per  cent.  The  overcrowding  is  worst  in  indus- 
trial and  mining  districts.^ 

Besides  these  general  census  returns  as  to  house  accom- 

1 Census  of  Scotland,  1891,  Vol.  L,  p.  xv. 

2 For  interesting  detaOs  and  discussion,  see  Census  of  England,  Vol.  TV., 
p.  19  ff. 


192 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


modation,  we  have  had  special  investigations  with  refer- 
ence to  the  so-called  tenement  house  problem  of  large 
cities.  The  most  recent  is  the  Tenement  House  Census 
of  Boston  which  was  taken  in  1891.  This  covered  .36,223 
rented  houses  inhabited  by  71,665  families  comprising 
311,396  persons,  or  an  average  of  4.35  persons  to  a family, 
and  of  8.60  persons  to  a rented  house.  The  average 
number  of  persons  to  a room  was  0.91,  but  in  some  cases 
it  was  as  high  as  2.11.  Of  the  71,665  families,  11,825 
were  found  in  one-tenement  houses,  that  is,  in  separate 
houses  held  under  rental ; 41,245  families  lived  in  houses 
containing  two  and  three  tenements.  These  two  classes 
together  comprise  three-fourths  of  all  the  families  and 
persons  living  in  rented  houses.  The  number  of  families 
to  a house,  according  to  this  statement,  does  not  seem  to 
be  excessive.  Nevertheless,  calling  the  three-tenement 
house  a tenement  house  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  word, 
and  excluding  houses  containing  more  than  six  tenements, 
which  are  ordinarily  of  the  higher  class  called  “ apartment 
houses,”  they  find  in  Boston  that  48  per  cent  of  the 
families  occupying  rented  houses  are  in  tenement  houses. 
They  constitute,  however,  only  37.24  per  cent  of  the  esti- 
mated number  of  families  in  the  city,  and  only  29.67  per 
cent  of  the  estimated  total  population. 

They  tried  in  Boston  to  indicate  more  particularly 
the  character  of  the  tenement  houses.  It  was  found,  for 
instance,  that  of  these  families  25.78  per  cent  have  bath- 
rooms, while  74.22  per  cent  do  not.  The  tenement  houses 
were  still  further  classified  m respect  to  outside  sanitary 
condition,  light  and  air,  ventilation,  and  cleanliness.  The 
inspector  designated  them  under  each  head  as  excellent, 
good,  fair,  poor,  or  bad.  About  12  per  cent  of  the  popu- 
lation in  rented  houses  were  living  in  “ poor  ” or  “ had  ” 
tenements,  but  in  some  of  the  wards  the  proportion  was 
as  high  as  25  per  cent.^ 

^ Report  of  the  Massachusetts  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labour,  1891,  pp. 


SOCIAL  CONDITION. 


193 


In  the  city  of  Bale  in  Switzerland,  a still  more  minute 
investigation  has  been  made  of  the  dwelling  accommoda- 
tions of  the  people.  This  covered  only  tenement  houses, 
that  is,  houses  inliahited  by  two  or  more  families.  The 
peculiarity  of  the  inquiry  is  that  the  rooms  were  measured 
and  classified  according  to  their  cubic  contents.  Ten 
cubic  metres  was  fixed  upon  as  the  minimum  necessary  for 
a sleeping  room  per  person,  and  20  cubic  metres  as  the  mini- 
mum for  a living  room.  There  lived  in  dwellings  which 
did  not  furnish  the  minimum  amount  of  sleeping  room,  7.3 
per  cent  of  the  population ; in  dwellings  which  gave  the 
minimum  amount  of  sleeping  room  hut  not  of  living  room, 
35.2  per  cent  of  the  population.  Another  30.8  per  cent 
lived  in  dwellings  with  a moderate  amount  of  living  room. 
Only  19.2  per  cent  had  abundant  room.^ 

Education.  The  condition  of  a people  is  very  often 
gauged  by  its  intelligence,  or  the  prevalence  of  education. 
We  have  here  two  statistical  measurements,  one  of  illiter- 
acy and  the  other  of  educational  facilities.  The  first  is 
much  easier  to  express  than  the  second. 

There  are  various  methods  of  ascertaining  the  illiteracy 
of  a population.  The  first  is  to  ascertain  by  a census  in- 
quiry the  number  of  persons  who  can  read  and  write,  or  at 
least  read.  An  example  is  the  Census  of  Ireland,  which 
gives  for  two  periods,  fifty  years  apart,  the  number  of 
literates  and  illiterates  in  the  population  5 years  of  age 
and  over  as  follows  : 

Eead  and  Read  but  not  Neither  Read 

Write.  Write.  nor  Write 

Per  Cent.  Per  Cent.  Per  Cent. 


Ireland,  1841  28  19  53 

Ireland,  1891 71  11  18 


This  shows  the  wonderful  progress  made  during  the  last 

538,  551,  555.  See  also  The  Seventh  Special  Report  of  the  Commissioner 
of  Labor : The  Slums  of  Baltimore,  Chicago,  New  York,  and  Philadelphia. 
Washington,  1894. 

1 Bucher,  Die  Wohnungs-Enquete  in  der  Stadt  Basel.  Reviewed  in 
the  Allg.  Stat.  Archiv,  II.,  296. 


194 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


fifty  years.  The  province  of  Connaught  shows  the  highest 
percentage  of  illiteracy  at  the  present  time  (27  per  cent), 
and  the  county  of  Galway  has  the  highest  percentage 
(34.1)  of  any  county  in  Ireland. 

Of  the  Roman  Catholic  population  5 years  of  age  and 
upward,  22.0  per  cent,  of  the  Protestant  Episcopalian,  8.6 
per  cent,  and  of  the  Presbyterian  5.6  per  cent,  could 
neither  read  nor  write. 

Ireland  is  considered  an  illiterate  country,  but  it  is  not 
nearly  as  much  so  as  some  of  the  countries  of  continental 
Europe.  In  Austria,  for  instance,  27.7  per  cent  of  the 
males  and  31  per  cent  of  the  females,  six  years  of  age  and 
over,  could  neither  read  nor  write,  and  in  Bukowina  and 
Dalmatia  the  percentage  was  75  and  85  for  males 
and  females.^ 

As  a contrast  to  this,  we  may  take  the  state  of  Massa- 
chusetts in  1885,  where  of  the  population  10  years  of  age 
and  over,  1.6  per  cent  could  read  but  not  write,  and  6.12 
per  cent  could  neither  read  nor  write.  Of  all  the  illit- 
erates, 88  per  cent  were  foreign-born.  The  number  of 
adult  illiterates  (among  whom  illiteracy  is  practically 
permanent)  was  much  greater  among  the  foreign  than 
among  the  native-born.  ^ 

The  second  method  of  ascertaining  illiteracy  is  to  take 
the  number  of  parties  contraeting  marriage  who  are  un- 
able to  sign  their  names  in  the  registration  book.  This 
is  the  English  method.  The  number  signing  with  a mark 
was,  for  one  hundred  of  each  sex: 

Males.  Females.  Males.  Females. 

In  1843  . . 32.7  49.0  In  1883  . . 12.6  15.5 

1873  . . 18.8  25.4  1893  . . 5.0  5.7 

This  table  shows  a great  decrease,  especially  marked 
since  1883.  In  Scotland  the  proportion,  in  1890,  was  3.92 
per  cent  for  men,  and  6.42  per  cent  for  women.  In  Ire- 

1 AUg.  Stat.  Arcliiv,  III.,  p.  414. 

2 Census,  Mass.,  1885,  Vol.  L,  Part  II.,  p.  Ixxxv. 


SOCIAL  CONDITION. 


195 


land  the  proportion,  in  1890,  was  20.4  for  men,  and  20.9 
for  women.  In  Prussia,  notwithstanding  the  universal 
compulsory  school-attendance,  there  is  a certain  number 
of  newly -married  people  unable  to  sign  the  marriage  cer- 
tificate. They  forget  how  to  write  between  the  time  of 
leaving  school  and  getting  married.  The  number  is  de- 
creasing, and,  in  1891,  was  only  1.6  per  cent  among  males, 
and  2.5  per  cent  among  females.^  The  number  is  greater 
among  females  than  among  males,  because  men  have 
greater  occasion  to  exercise  their  writing  in  occupations 
after  leaving  school  than  have  females.  The  male  recruits 
also  are  taught  reading  and  writing,  if  found  illiterate. 

A third  method  is  to  obtain  the  number  of  recruits  un- 
able to  read  and  write. 

In  Germany,  of  the  recruits  for  the  year  1889-90,  only 
0.5  per  cent  could  neither  read  nor  write  their  own  name. 
For  the  province  of  Posen,  the  proportion  was  3 per  cent; 
for  West  Prussia,  3.26  per  cent;  for  East  Prussia,  2.49  per 
cent;  but  for  aU  the  other  provinces  of  Prussia  and  the 
rest  of  the  empire,  it  was  less  than  one  per  cent,  in  some 
cases  gomg  as  low  as  0.01  per  cent. 

In  France  ^ the  results  of  the  second  and  third  method 
correspond,  there  being,  in  1887,  about  10  per  cent  of  the 
recruits  who  were  illiterate,  and  about  the  same  per  cent 
of  bridegrooms  who  could  not  sign  their  names.  The 
amount  of  illiteracy  has  decreased  rapidly  since  1870. 

International  comparison  of  illiteracy  is  difficult,  because 
countries  pursue  these  different  methods.  Comparatively 
few  take  a census  of  illiterates;  and  the  census  answers 
being  made  by  the  individuals  themselves,  probably  the 
amount  of  illiteracy  returned  is  less  than  really  exists. 
On  the  other  hand,  recruits  and  people  able  to  marry  are 
a select  class,  and  thus  the  great  amount  of  illiteracy  ex- 
isting among  the  lower  classes,  the  vagabonds,  criminals, 

iPreuss.  Zeitschrift,  1893,  S.  C.  II. 

^Levasseur,  La  Pop.  fran§aise,  Vol.  II.,  p.  490. 


196 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


paupers,  and  defectives,  escapes  notice.  So,  too,  where 
education  has  recently  been  introduced,  the  older  persons, 
who  passed  their  youth  before  it  became  common,  may  be 
very  illiterate,  although  the  younger  classes,  from  which 
the  recruits  and  bridegrooms  come,  are  now  able  to  read 
and  write.  In  Belgium  the  lowest  number  of  illiterates 
is  found  among  persons  15  to  25  years  of  age,  — only  15 
per  cent ; it  then  increases,  until  from  the  age  of  60,  over 
one-half  of  the  persons  are  illiterate.  Such  statistics  of 
illiteracy  by  age-groups  are  always  extremely  interesting, 
because  they  show  the  long  and  wearisome  struggle  that 
any  educational  system  has  in  overcoming  ignorance. 
Removal  by  death  is  the  only  cure  for  this  illiteracy  of 
advanced  years.  The  application  to  the  foreign-born 
population  of  the  United  States  has  already  been  noticed. 

Notwithstanding  these  difficulties,  an  attempt  has  been 
made  to  secure  an  international  comparison.  For  sake  of 
uniformity  the  figures  are  taken  from  the  years  1880  to 
1882  and  refer  to  illiteracy  among  recruits,  except  for 
England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland,  where  bridegrooms  are 
taken,  and  the  United  States,  where  males  15-21  are  taken 
as  the  class  nearest  the  recruits.  W e have  then  countries  in 
four  groups  and  the  percentage  of  illiterates  as  follows  : 

Groitp  I.  Geoup  II.  Gkoup  III.  Gf.ocp  IV. 

Roumania  . 79.6  Hungary.  . 50.8  England  . . 13.2  Switzerland  . 2.5 
Servia  . . . 79.3  Italy  . . . 47.7  Holland  . . 10.4  Prussia.  . . 2.3 

Russia  . . . 78.8  Austria  . . 38.9  United  States  Germany  . . 1.6 

United  States  Ireland  . . 27.6  whites  . . 7.7  Sweden  . . 0.4 

coloured  pop-  Belgium  . . 15.9  Scotland  . . 6.8  Denmark  . . 0.4 

ulation  . . 62.1  France  . . 14.9 

Group  I.,  with  enormous  illiteracy,  is  t}’pical  of  the 
Slavonic  countries  in  Eastern  and  Southeastern  Europe. 
Hungary  and  Austria,  in  Group  II.,  having  large  Slavonic 
mixture,  approach  the  figures  for  Group  I.  The  second 
group  is  mainly  the  Latin  and  Celtic  nationalities,  hut 
while  Italy  approaches  the  East,  France  is  nearer  England 
and  the  North.  The  condition  of  Ireland  is  due  largely  to 


SOCIAL  CONDITION. 


197 


economic  circumstances.  Group  III.  is  mainly  Anglo- 
Saxon,  and  presents  a moderate  amount  of  illiteracy. 
Group  IV.  is  mostly  Germanic,  and  represents  illiteracy 
pushed  down  probably  to  its  lowest  limits.^ 

The  single  test  of  absolute  illiteracy  is  a very  crude 
one  for  measuring  the  social  condition  of  a community. 
Education  can  be  of  all  degrees  of  excellence  and  extend 
indefinitely  into  the  higher  domains  of  science,  art,  and 
learning.  We  should  therefore  extend  our  statistics  so 
as  to  show  the  number  of  universities  and  higher  schools, 
the  number  of  professors  and  teachers  employed,  the 
number  of  students  enrolled  of  various  grades,  the  aver- 
age length  of  the  school  year,  the  regularity  of  attendance, 
the  amount  of  money  spent,  and  so  on.  The  combination 
of  all  these  things  might  serve  to  give  us  some  notion  of 
the  educational  facilities  enjoyed  by  different  communi- 
ties. It  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  bring  these  figures 
into  international  comparison  so  as  to  measure  exactly  the 
social  position  of  different  populations,  and  we  shall  not 
attempt  it  here.^ 

Religious  Confession.  This  is  an  important  index  of 
the  social  condition  of  different  populations.  We  have 
first  the  absolute  number  of  members  of  different  confes- 
sions as  shown  in  the  following  table  (1890-91)  : ^ 


COUNTET. 

Protestants. 

Roman 

Catholics. 

Greek 

Catholics. 

other 

Christians. 

Jews. 

Germany  . . 

31,026,810 

17,671,929 

2,992 

145,540 

567,884 

Austria  . . 

436,352 

18,934,166 

3,358,939 

17,645 

1,141,615 

Hungary  . . 

2,551,831 

8,885,940 

4,321,187 

74,417 

730,342 

Switzerland  . 

1,716,548 

1,183,828 

- 

- 

8,069 

Holland  . . 

2,674,994 

1,596,482 

37 

61,513 

97,324 

Denmark . . 

2,163,485 

3,648 

- 

10,582 

4,080 

Sweden  . . 

4,735,747 

1,390 

- 

18,606 

3,402 

Norway  . . 

1,966,476 

1,004 

52 

15,358 

214 

Ireland  . . 

1,045,077 

3,547,307 

- 

79,371 

1,785 

^Miscliler,  Allg.  Stat.  Archiv,  III.,  p.  730. 

^Eecent  attempts  are  by  Levasseur,  Bulletin  de  I’lnstitut  interna- 
tional de  statistique,  Vol.  VI.,  and  by  Mischler,  op.  cit. 

® Allg.  Stat.  Archiv,  III.,  p.  472. 


198 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


The  above  table  gives  a general  notion  of  the  mixture 
of  religious  confessions  in  some  of  the  principal  countries 
of  Europe. 

When  we  come  to  distinguish  Christian  sects,  as  in  the 
United  States,  the  matter  is  much  more  difficult.  We  do 
not  demand  in  our  general  census  the  religious  belief  of 
each  individual,  but  endeavour  by  collecting  the  statistics 
of  churches  to  ascertain  the  relative  strength  of  different 
denominations.  The  great  difficulty  is  that  we  have 
to  get  the  numbers  from  church  officials,  and  that 
the  definition  of  what  constitutes  membership  varies.  In 
some,  it  is  all  who  have  been  baptized  ; in  others,  those 
who  attend  the  church  service  or  contribute  to  its  sup- 
port ; in  others,  only  those  who  have  previously  joined  the 
church  or  who  are  communicants. 

Specimens  of  the  Church  Statistics  of  the  Eleventh 
Census  are  as  follows  : ^ 


Denomination. 

Organi- 

zation. 

Church 

Edifices, 

Seating 

Capacity. 

Value  of 
Church 
Property. 

Communi- 
cants or 
Members. 

Total  . . 

165,177 

142,621 

43,564,863 

$679,630,139 

20,612,806 

Methodists 

51,489 

46,138 

12,863,178 

132,140,179 

4,589,284 

Baptists  . . 

42,909 

37,671 

11,668,019 

82,328,123 

3,712,468 

Presbyterians . 

13,476 

12,469 

4,038,650 

94,869,097 

1,278,332 

Catholics  . . 

10,276 

8,816 

3,374,907 

118,371,366 

6,257,871 

Lutherans  . . 

8,595 

6,701 

2,205,635 

35,060,354 

1,231,072 

One  peculiarity  to  be  noted  in  this  table  is  that  while 
in  Protestant  denominations  the  seating  capacity  is  greater 
than  the  number  of  members,  among  the  Roman  Catholics 
the  number  of  members  is  greater  than  the  seating  capac- 
ity. This  is  due  to  the  fact  that  in  Catholic  churches 
two,  three,  or  even  four  masses  are  held  on  Sunday,  which 
are  attended  by  and  intended  for  different  bodies  of  com- 
municants. One  case  (an  extreme  one)  is  mentioned  of 
a Polish  church  in  Buffalo  where  there  were  17,490  com- 
municants, although  the  church  had  a seating  capacity 
1 Compendium  of  the  Eleventh  Census,  Part  II.,  p.  306. 


SOCIAL  CONDITION. 


199 


of  only  1900.  These  figures  of  church  property,  capacity, 
and  membership  for  the  United  States  have  only  a limited 
value,  because  they  rest  on  uncertain  data.  They  show 
in  a general  way  the  religious  proclivities  of  the  people, 
and  the  attention  they  pay  to  religious  culture. 

Occupations.  The  classification  of  the  popxilation  by 
occupation  gives  us  important  knowledge  of  social  condi- 
tion. We  adopt  for  this  purpose  such  general  grouping 
as  will  apply  to  large  bodies  of  men  living  under  some- 
what similar  circumstances.  Detailed  occupations  refer 
to  such  small  bodies  of  persons  that  although  extremely 
useful  for  the  study  of  particular  conditions,  they  cannot 
be  used  for  general  purposes.  The  ordinary  classification 
is  shown  in  the  following  table  : ^ 

Peopoetions  pee  1000  of  all  Ages. 


Class.  England  Scotland.  Ireland.  United 

and  Wales.  Kingdom. 

Professional 32  28  44  33 

Domestic 66  50  51  62 

Commercial 48  45  20  44 

Agricultural  and  fishing  . . 46  62  200  67 

Industrial 253  256  140  239 

Unoccupied 555  559  545  555 


Less  than  one-half  of  the  population,  including  women 
and  children,  is  accounted  for  as  engaged  in  productive 
occupations.  The  differences  among  the  countries  are 
apparent.  In  England  and  in  Scotland  one-fourth  of 
the  population  is  engaged  in  industry,  while  in  Ireland 
one-fifth  is  engaged  in  agriculture  and  fishing.  If  the 
unoccupied  and  nonproductive  classes  were  distributed 
proportionately  among  the  different  occupations  (which 
would  not  be  strictly  correct),  more  than  one-half  of  the 
population  of  England  and  Scotland  would  be  dependent 
on  industry,  and  two-fifths  of  the  population  of  Ireland 
on  agriculture. 

In  other  countries  the  census  of  occupations  is  taken  on 
1 Census  of  England,  1891,  Vol.  TV.,  p.  87. 


200 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


a different  plan.  In  France  and  Germany  the  dependents 
are  classed  with  the  person  upon  whom  they  are  depend- 
ent. This  gives  a different  set  of  figures  from  those  shown 
above.  A general  comparison  of  France  and  Germany 
would  show  the  following  percentages  of  the  whole  popu- 
lation dependent  upon  different  occupations:  ^ 


Germany. 

France. 

Agriculture  and  fishing 

. . 42.5 

47.8 

Industry 

. . 35.5 

25.1 

Commerce  and  transportation  . . 

. . 11.0 

14.3 

Professional  and  official  .... 

. . 4.9 

6.6 

Unoccupied  and  independent . . . 

. . 5.0 

6.2 

100.0 

100.0 

These  figures  tend  to  show  that  France  is  agricultural, 
while  Germany  is  more  industrial.  Similar  figures  for 
the  United  States  go  to  show  that  about  40  per  cent  of 
the  population  are  engaged  in  agriculture.  The  figures 
are  as  follows: 


Persons  in  Gainfol  Occupations,  United  States,  1890,  by  Classes 


OF  Occupations. 


Per  Cent 


Classes  of  Occupations. 

Total. 

Males. 

Females,  in  each  oo 

Total  population  ten  years 
of  age  and  over  . . . 

47,413,559 

24,352,659 

23,060,900 

cupation. 

Totals, 

All  occupations  .... 

22,735,661 

18,820,912 

3,914,749 

100.00 

Agriculture,  fisheries,  and 
mining 

9,013,201 

8,333,692 

679,509 

39.6 

Professional 

944,543 

632,861 

311,682 

4.1 

Domestic  and  personal 
service  

4,360,286 

2,692,600 

1,667,686 

19.1 

Trade  and  transportation 

3,325,962 

3,097,640 

228,322 

14.6 

Manufacturing  and  me- 
chanical industries . . 

5,091,669 

4,064,119 

1,027,550 

22.3 

A further  refinement  of  the  statistics  of  occupations  is 
to  divide  the  persons  in  each  occupation  into  employers, 
employed,  and  working  on  their  own  account.  In  Scot- 

’ Stat.  Jahrbucli  fiir  das  Deutsche  Keich,  1891.  Levasseur,  Pop. 
fraii§aise,  I.,  p.  356. 


SOCIAL  CONDITION. 


201 


land,^  for  instance,  the  623,459  males  engaged  in  certain 
occupations  (excluding  such  as  the  public  service,  army 
and  navy,  professional  and  domestic,  where  it  is  self- 
evident  whether  a man  is  employer  or  employee)  are  clas- 
sified as  follows  : The  number  of  male  employers  is  56,789, 
of  employed,  505,323  ; of  those  working  on  their  own 
account,  48,881.  Of  the  females,  7,316  are  employers, 
210,716  are  employed,  and  37,914  are  working  on  their 
own  account.  These  figures  are  not  altogether  satisfac- 
tory, because  they  include  only  a portion  of  the  popu- 
lation. In  Germany  they  have  a still  more  detailed 
classification  covering  employers,  administrative  per- 
sonelle,  day  labourers,  other  assistants,  etc.  The  results 
for  Prussia  expressed  in  percentages  of  the  whole  popula- 
tion were  as  follows  : ^ 

Per  Cent.  Per  Cent. 

Working  on  own  account  . 11.22  Day  service 3.25 

Labouring  class  . . . . 24.85  Unoccupied  or  independent  2.58 

House  service 1.02  Dependents 57.08 

Such  figures  do  not  carry  us  very  far  in  our  estimates 

of  the  social  position  of  a population.  The  difficulties  of 
classification  seem  to  be  practically  insuperable,  especially 
when  we  try  to  compare  the  population  of  one  country 
with  that  of  another.^ 

There  are  many  other  indirect  indices  of  the  social  con- 
dition of  the  community.  They  are  mostly  economic  in 
their  nature,  and  can  be  treated  critically  only  under  Eco- 
nomic Statistics.  It  will  suffice  merely  to  mention  some 
of  the  more  important  ones  here. 

The  ownership  of  land  is  an  important  factor  in  the 
social  condition  of  a people.  Where  we  contrast  the 
peasant  proprietorship  system  of  France,  with  more  than 

1 Census  of  Scotland,  1891,  Vol.  II.,  Part  II.,  p.  xiii. 

2 Statistiscbes  Handbuch  fiir  den  Preussischen  Staat.,  Band  II.,  p.  135. 

® Interesting  discussion  of  statistics  of  occupations  in  Census  of  Eng- 
land, 1891,  Vol.  lY.,  p.  35. 


202 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY, 


4,500,000  owners  of  land,  with  the  great  landlord  system 
of  England,  with  its  325,000  owners,  the  social  as  well  as 
the  economic  influence  must  be  very  different.  When  we 
know  that  in  Great  Britain  the  average  size  of  agricultu- 
ral holding  is  58^  acres,  while  in  France  it  is  only  121- 
acres,  the  difference  between  the  two  systems  is  very 
clearly  seen. 

The  indebtedness  resting  on  owners  of  farms  and  homes 
is  another  important  index  of  social  condition.  Out  of 
12,690,132  families  in  the  United  States,  52.2  per  cent 
hired  their  farms  or  homes,  34.43  per  cent  ovuied  them 
unincumbered,  and  13.37  per  cent  owned  them  incum- 
bered. The  details  of  this  interesting  investigation  will 
be  considered  under  Economic  Statistics. 

The  statistics  of  savings  banks  give  us  positive  evidence 
of  the  prosperity  of  the  people.  In  the  same  way,  we  have 
indirect  evidence  in  the  number  of  benefit  societies,  of  co- 
operative societies,  of  mutual  insurance  associations,  etc. 

The  consumption  of  the  necessaries  and  comforts  of  life, 
as  revealed  in  the  statistics  of  imports  and  the  returns  of 
taxation,  may  be  made  to  show  variations  in  the  well-being 
of  the  mass  of  the  people.  Price  statistics,  in  conjunction 
with  wage  statistics,  show  a greater  or  less  command  over 
the  comforts  and  conveniences  of  life.  The  rent  of  houses 
is  especially  important  in  this  connection. 

Social  statistics  require  minute  investigation,  and  we 
can  often  get  details  in  regard  to  a small  community  or 
section  of  a community  which  we  camiot  extend  statisti- 
cally. An  example  is  Mr.  Charles  Booth’s  investigation  of 
the  conditions  in  East  London,  where  he  was  able  to  di- 
vide the  people  into  general  classes,  showing  on  the  whole 
whether  they  were  utterly  wretched,  very  poor  and  'with 
uncertain  livelihood,  poor  but  decently  comfortable,  fairly 
well-off,  and  well-to-do.  Such  minute  investigations  allow 
us  to  describe  the  general  sanitary  condition  of  the  neigh- 
bourhood, park  and  recreation  places,  opportunities  for 


SOCIAL  CONDITION. 


203 


amusement,  associations  for  mutual  benefit,  which  we 
could  not  deal  with  for  larger  areas.  The  greatest  oppor- 
tunity for  social  statistics  probably  lies  in  this  direction. 

Scientific  Tests. 

The  principal  difficulty  in  social  statistics  is  to  get 
definitions  of  terms  sufficiently  precise  to  classify  the  elu- 
sive phenomena  of  social  life. 

A very  simple  example  of  this  is  the  definition  of  the 
terms  family  and  house.  What  do  we  mean  by  the 
term  family  ? Does  an  individual  living  alone  constitute 
a family  ? Does  a boarding-house  constitute  one  family, 
or  as  many  as  there  are  individual  boarders  not  connected 
by  any  tie  of  relationship  or  pecuniary  interest  ? A board- 
ing-school of  75  girls,  is  that  a family,  or  shall  the  girls  be 
assigned  to  their  respective  families  ? The  latter  process 
is  inconvenient  and  difficult,  for  often  they  live  outside 
the  state,  or  perhaps  the  girls  are  orphans.  In  statistics 
they  are  obliged  to  cut  the  knot  very  simply  by  counting 
every  individual  living  isolated  as  a family,  and  all  ag- 
glomerations of  persons  living  together  as  a family  or 
household.  Little  harm  is  done  when  we  still  further 
classify  the  families  according  to  size,  for  the  single  indi- 
viduals at  once  appear,  and  the  institutions  and  hotels 
become  prominent  by  the  number  of  individuals  in  them. 
Even  when  we  come  to  average  the  families  for  the  pur- 
pose of  ascertaining  the  average  size,  if  the  area  is  of  con- 
siderable extent  these  exceptional  cases  disappear.  For 
instance,  in  Massachusetts  in  1885,  the  average  size  of 
family,  including  these  artificial  aggregations,  was  4.58 
persons,  and  excluding  them  it  was  4.45,  a difference 
which  would  not  be  important.  In  small  communities  it 
is  otherwise.  For  instance,  in  the  town  of  Tewksbury, 
including  the  state  almshouse  as  one  family,  the  average 
size  of  family  was  7.05,  while  excluding  it,  it  was  4.50. 

The  definition  of  a house  presents  some  difficulty. 


204 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


What  a difference  between  a mud  hovel  and  a city  hotel! 
Yet  they  are  both  dwelling-houses.  It  seems  best  to 
consider  each  building  as  a house,  and  then  to  enumerate 
the  number  of  tenements  in  a house,  each  tenement  being 
occupied  by  a family.  In  Scotland  they  count  a dwelling 
with  an  entrance  into  a common  stair  as  a house.  Care 
must  be  taken  in  international  comparisons  to  see  that  the 
same  definition  has  been  used.  The  influence  of  the  mod- 
ern apartment  houses  in  cities  is  somewhat  peculiar. 
Wherever  they  are  present  it  results  in  a large  number  of 
families  to  a house.  This,  of  course,  does  not  represent 
“overcrowding.”  Misinterpretation  can  be  guarded 
against  by  giving  the  number  of  rooms  to  a family  or 
tenement. 

The  interpretation  of  the  social  meaning  of  a large  or 
small  average  size  of  family  must  always  be  made  with 
careful  consideration  of  surrounding  circumstances.  In 
a frontier  country  there  will  be  a large  number  of  single 
persons,  or  young  married  couples,  and  the  family  will  be 
small.  In  a settled  agricultural  region,  where  the  grown- 
up children  continue  to  find  employment  on  the  farm,  the 
family  will  be  large.  In  a city,  where  adults  congregate 
and  bachelor  life  is  easy,  or  in  a country  of  immigration, 
the  family  is  small.  Some  influences  seem  contradictory. 
An  industrial  population  generally  has  a large  number  of 
children,  but  the  children  leave  the  parents  at  an  early 
age,  and  there  is  large  infant  mortality,  so  that  in  factory 
towns  the  family  is  small.  These  things,  also,  affect  the 
question  of  overcrowding,  for  when  we  say  that  a family 
occupies  only  two  or  three  rooms,  it  evidently  makes  a 
difference  whether  the  family  consists  of  adults  or  of  small 
children.  Among  the  lower  classes,  where  overcrowding 
is  most  felt,  the  small  children  predominate. 

The  statistics  of  occupations  offer  various  technical  dif- 
ficulties which  can  only  be  fully  considered  when  occupa- 
tions are  treated  in  detail  under  Economic  Statistics.  The 


SOCIAL  CONDITION. 


205 


lines  of  division  between  great  groups,  like  agriculture 
and  manufacturing,  are  not  always  clearly  drawn.  Some 
men  pursue  two  or  more  occupations,  as  farmer  and  fish- 
erman, clergyman  and  schoolmaster,  but  must  be  classed 
in  one  alone.  It  is  difficult  to  class  women  and  children, 
who  perhaps  assist  the  husband  or  father,  or  work  inter- 
mittently outside.  They  are  not  full  members  of  the 
occupation,  and  yet  in  a certain  sense  the}'-  belong  to  it. 
The  term  “professional”  especially,  allows  wide  divergence 
of  interpretation,  as,  for  instance,  in  the  United  States 
Census  of  1880,  boot-blacks  and  whitewashers  were  in- 
cluded under  it.  Shall  a maid  in  a farm-house  be  included 
under  the  domestic  or  the  agricultural  class  ? When  we 
calculate  the  proportions  of  the  different  occupations, 
shall  we  take  the  whole  population  as  a standard?  In 
that  case,  we  must  class  the  women  and  children  with  the 
men  on  whom  they  are  dependent,  or  we  shall  have  a large 
class  of  “unoccupied.”  Shall  we  take  the  population 
above  the  age  (say)  of  ten  years?  We  shall  still  have 
the  women  and  a large  number  of  children  “ unoccupied,” 
and  the  proportion  would  vary  according  to  the  sex  and 
age  composition  of  the  particular  population.  Shall  we 
take  only  those  actually  engaged  in  gainful  occupations  ? 
Then  the  proportion  would  vary  according  to  the  employ- 
ment of  women  and  children  in  factories.  Whatever  basis 
we  adopt,  international  comparison  is  difficult.  Such 
statistics  are  useful,  mainly,  in  tracing  progress  in  the 
same  country. 

In  the  statistics  of  education  we  encounter  the  same 
difficulty  of  exact  definition.  The  terms  illiterate  and 
literate  are  very  elastic.  It  makes  considerable  difference 
whether  we  take  the  assertion  of  the  individual  or  not; 
and  whether  the  test  is  an  easy  one,  such  as  signing  one’s 
name,  or  a real  one.  The  education  of  the  literates  may, 
of  course,  be  widely  different,  so  that  while  we  have  a 
minimum  grade  we  have  no  upward  divisions. 


206 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


Scientific  precision,  in  statistics  of  social  position,  is  not 
to  be  expected.  Status  is  too  complex  to  be  expressed  in 
numerical  terms.  We  can  only  take  certain  facts  as  indi- 
cative of  the  probable  condition,  and  base  our  judgment 
upon  these  facts.  Science  here  does  not  demand  exact 
measurements,  but  simply  tests  pointing  to  probable  con- 
clusions. 

Reflective  Analysis. 

Social  condition  rests  always  upon  an  economic  founda- 
tion. There  can  be  no  security  or  refinement  in  the  art 
of  living  unless  the  economic  organization  furnishes  abrm- 
dant  and  sure  means  of  subsistence.  There  can  be  little  de- 
velopment of  intellectual,  artistic,  and  social  life,  until  the 
crude  physical  wants  are  satisfied.  Even  the  morality  of  a 
community,  its  participation  in  vice  and  crime,  are,  as  we 
shall  see  later,  strongly  influenced  by  its  economic  condition. 

This  gives  rise  to  the  reflection  that  in  order  to  meas- 
ure social  condition  we  must  begin  with  thorough  statis- 
tics of  economic  condition.  The  most  important  thing 
here  is  trustworthy  statistics  of  wages,  for  a large  portion 
of  the  modern  community  consists  of  wage-receivers. 
Wages  must  then  be  turned  into  incomes,  and  this  requires 
care,  for  we  miist  know  something  about  average  wages,  reg- 
ularity of  employment,  time  lost  by  sickness  and  accident, 
strikes  and  lockouts,  how  many  members  of  the  family  are 
wage-earners,  size  of  the  family  to  be  supported,  etc.  In- 
comes must  then  be  turned  into  means  of  livelihood  by 
tables  of  prices  of  the  necessaries  and  comforts  of  life, 
such  as  food,  clothing,  shelter,  and  medical  attendance ; 
and  these  last  must  be  adjusted  to  incomes  by  “budgets,” 
showing  in  what  proportion  the  various  items  enter  into 
the  expenditure  of  a workingman’s  family.  All  these 
things  belong  to  economic  statistics  and  cannot  be  eluci- 
dated here.  It  is  evident  that  they  form  the  foundation 
of  social  condition,  and  in  a thorough  treatment  of  the 
subject  would  hold  the  first  place. 


SOCIAL  CONDITION. 


207 


The  statistics  of  social  condition  which  we  have  given 
in  this  chapter  are  therefore  secondary.  They  are  mani- 
festations of  social  life  which  serve  as  indices  of  the 
condition  of  a community.  They  depend  upon  the  eco- 
nomic condition  lying  behind  and  underneath  them. 
They  are  to  be  looked  upon  not  as  independent  primary 
factors,  but  simply  as  manifestations,  phenomena,  revealing 
in  a certain  way  the  real  condition  of  things. 

One  of  the  most  important  of  these  manifestations  is 
revealed  by  the  statistics  of  houses  and  dwellings.  Man 
always  demands  shelter  for  his  head.  Beginning  with 
caves  and  holes  in  the  earth,  he  progresses  through  huts, 
wigwams,  and  mud  hovels  to  the  heated  and  lighted 
houses  of  modern  times  with  doors,  chimneys,  and  win- 
dows. The  importance  of  such  progress  cannot  be  de- 
nied. It  is  seen  in  the  struggles  over  hearth  and  window 
taxes  which  have  always  been  denounced  as  hindering  a 
development  which  was  most  important  for  the  condition 
of  the  mass  of  the  people,  viz.,  better  building.  When 
we  find,  therefore,  20,000  families  in  Ireland  still  in  mud 
hovels,  it  gives  us  a vivid  impression  of  poverty  and  desti- 
tution. And  it  is  a sign  of  progress  noted  by  the  census- 
taker  of  Scotland  with  satisfaction,  that  the  number  of 
families  living  in  one  room  without  window  has  become 
extremely  small,  and  the  proportion  of  families  living  in 
one  room  with  window  is  growing  steadily  less.  The  size 
of  the  house,  although  only  a rough  measure,  for  houses  vary 
infinitely  in  quality  even  when  built  of  the  same  material, 
affords  us  an  index  of  the  social  condition  of  the  people. 

With  the  crowding  of  population  into  large  cities  the 
problem  of  house  accommodation  as  an  index  of  social 
condition  has  become  more  complex,  while  at  the  same 
time  even  more  important.  The  size  of  the  house  in  the 
country  is  an  index  of  the  comfort  of  the  inhabitants. 
The  tenement  house  in  the  city  with  its  numerous  fami- 
lies, lack  of  light  and  air,  bad  sanitary  condition,  and 


208 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


deteriorating  surroundings  is  an  index  of  the  possibility, 
or  rather  impossibility,  of  leading  a decent,  healthful,  and 
moral  life.  It  means  not  only  a limited  space  in  which  to 
live  and  sleep,  hut  constant  exposure  to  disease,  to  dis- 
order and  disturbance,  and  to  moral  contamination.  The 
social  results  of  tenement  house  living  are  widespread  and 
permeating. 

The  statistical  problem  of  how  to  express  these  con- 
ditions is  correspondingly  difficult.  It  is  necessary  that 
we  find  some  measure  which  will  gauge  the  evils  and 
point  to  methods  of  improvement.  Mere  statistics  of 
overcrowding,  i.e.,  of  the  number  of  families  to  a house 
or  of  persons  to  a room,  are  not  sufficient.  Even  if  ac- 
companied by  measurements  of  the  cubic  contents  of  the 
rooms,  the  statistics  are  not  altogether  adequate,  for  they 
do  not  give  us  the  quality  of  the  house  accommodation. 
They  must  be  supplemented  by  observations  of  the  sanitary 
condition,  situation,  and  cleanliness  of  the  house.  These 
latter  are,  of  course,  the  subjective  judgment  of  the  in- 
spectors, but  there  is  no  doubt  that  we  must  train  men 
to  make  such  observations,  if  our  house  statistics  are  to  be 
of  value.  Only  by  such  refinements  can  we  attain  the 
desired  result.  And  there  is  no  reason  why  such  re- 
finements should  not  be  reached,  if  we  are  willing  to 
expend  sufficient  scientific  care  in  the  development  of 
our  social  statistics. 

The  number  of  families  and  the  number  of  persons  to 
a family  are  less  directly  an  index  of  social  conditions 
proper,  because  they  are  evidently  closely  connected  with 
merely  demographic  phenomena,  such  as  births,  deaths, 
and  marriages.  They  have,  indeed,  deep  social  significance, 
but  this  significance  has  to  be  interpreted  with  great  care 
in  connection  with  other  facts.  If  small  families  indicate 
prudence  and  foresight,  and  result  in  comfort  and  well- 
being, low  death-rates  and  freedom  from  misery,  it  is  hard 
to  condemn  them.  If  they  are  accompanied  by  vice  and 


SOCIAL  CONDITION. 


209 


immorality  and  threaten  the  future  prosperity  of  the 
nation,  it  is  necessary  to  condemn  them.  How  widely 
interpretation  differs  may  be  seen  by  examining  the 
theories  and  judgments  in  regard  to  the  present  stationary 
state  of  the  population  of  France.  As  indicative  of  the 
influence  of  other  phenomena,  such  as  the  effect  of  urban 
life,  the  competition  of  other  nationalities,  the  growing 
taste  for  luxury,  the  loosening  of  the  bonds  of  religion 
and  domestic  life,  the  statistics  of  families  will  always 
have  great  interest  and  value. 

Education  can  scarcely  fail  to  be  always  an  index  of  the 
social  condition  of  a people.  Ignorance  generally  accom- 
panies poverty,  vice,  and  crime.  We  do  not  always  make 
men  moral  by  teaching  them  to  read  and  write,  for  some 
of  the  worst  criminals  have  been  educated  men.  Never- 
theless, it  remains  true  that  the  intelligent  community  is, 
in  general,  a prosperous  and  moral  one.  Religious  con- 
fession, again,  is  not  always  indicative  of  morality,  but 
certain  characteristics  accompany  different  religions,  so 
that  the  statistics  serve  as  an  index  of  social  condition. 
Occupations  possess,  mainly,  an  economic  significance  and 
need  to  be  treated  in  greater  detail  under  Economic  Sta- 
tistics. We  have  already  shown  their  relation  to  sickness 
and  mortality. 

The  problem  of  how  to  unite  these  different  measure- 
ments so  as  to  form  a true  “ index  ” of  social  condition  has 
not  yet  been  solved.  If  an  “ index-number  ” for  the  prices 
of  commodities  is  difficult,  how  much  more  so  would  be  an 
“ index-number  ” which  should  measure  variations  in  social 
condition. 


CHAPTER  X. 


THE  INFIRM  AND  DEPENDENT. 

Sociological  Purpose. 

In  the  last  chapter  we  looked  into  some  of  the  positive 
elements  for  judging  of  the  social  condition  of  the  com- 
munity. But  the  positive  elements  are  always  much  more 
difficult  to  measure  than  the  negative.  It  is  comparatively 
easy  to  say  that  people  are  poor ; it  is  difficult  to  measure 
how  rich  they  are.  When  people  are  very  poor  they 
demand  public  assistance,  and  we  have  statistics  of  pauper- 
ism. But  when  they  are  able  to  take  care  of  themselves 
we  have  no  need  of  knowing  how  well-to-do  they  are,  and 
get  only  indirect  evidence  of  it  by  an  income  tax  or  the 
like.  In  one  respect  we  have  already  taken  negative 
evidence,  viz.,  of  illiteracy,  which  is  easier  to  test  than  the 
degree  of  education. 

There  is,  now,  a range  of  subjects  where  we  have  nega- 
tive evidence  of  the  condition  of  a community,  economic 
and  social.  These  are  the  statistics  of  pauperism  already 
mentioned ; the  statistics  of  the  infirm  in  body  or  mind, 
such  as  the  blind,  the  deaf  and  dumb,  the  insane  and  idiotic. 
Finally,  we  have  statistics  which  evidence  not  only  the 
absence  of  wealth,  health,  and  strength,  hut  the  commis- 
sion of  acts  which  the  community  absolutely  condemns  as 
bad  or  immoral.  These  are  the  statistics  of  suicide,  vice, 
and  crime.  Here  we  cannot  measure  the  good  directly,  as 
the  morality  of  a community,  but  we  can  indirectly,  by 
measuring  the  evil. 


210 


THE  INEIEM  AND  DEPENDENT. 


211 


In  this  chapter  we  take  up  the  statistics  of  misfortune, 
that  is,  of  those  conditions  which  we  do  not  attribute  to 
the  immorality  or  criminality  of  the  individual.  These 
are  the  statistics  of  the  infirm  and  dependent. 

There  is  a certain  number  of  persons  in  every  com- 
munity who,  on  account  of  some  physical  or  mental 
infirmity,  are  not  able-bodied.  They  are  more  or  less 
of  a burden  to  society.  They  do  not  represent  the  full 
strength  which  their  numbers  would  indicate.  Their 
presence  is,  in  that  sense,  an  economic  loss.  Not  only 
that,  but  in  many  cases  their  presence  indicates  some 
defect  in  the  social  organization,  or  in  the  manner  of  life 
of  the  people.  Where  possible,  it  is  necessary  to  remedy 
such  defects.  At  least  it  is  necessary  to  study  the  con- 
dition of  these  unfortunates  with  a view  to  ameliorat- 
ing it,  both  for  their  sake  and  for  that  of  the  community. 
For  this  purpose  we  seek  statistics  of  the  number  of  each 
class,  their  sex,  age,  and  conjugal  condition,  their  sickness 
and  mortality,  their  economic  and  social  condition,  in 
order  to  understand  the  cause  of  and  the  remedy  for  the 
misfortune. 

In  pauperism  we  seem  to  have  a slightly  different 
phenomenon,  for  men  are  paupers  often  through  their 
own  fault,  sometimes  almost  of  their  own  choice.  But 
we  treat  pauperism  as  a social  phenomenon,  its  causes  in 
social  conditions,  in  intemperance,  in  industrial  organiza- 
tion, and  the  remedies  to  be  applied  for  its  amelioration  or 
extinction. 

In  all  these  direetions  we  still  remain  true  to  the  soci- 
ological purpose  of  depicting  social  organization.  The 
dependent  and  infirm  constitute  classes  in  society,  and 
they  influence  many  other  social  phenomena.  They  make 
peculiar  contributions  to  the  statistics  of  births,  mar- 
riages, deaths,  age,  and  eonjugal  condition.  They  con- 
stitute a classification  which  cuts  transversely,  as  it  were, 
across  other  classifications.  They  show  us  peculiar  rela- 


212 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


tions  to  the  physical  environment,  as  land,  climate,  and 
economic  condition  ; while  pauperism  and  dependence  are 
associated  with  the  social  environment,  such  as  institutions, 
family  life,  religious  belief,  morality,  race,  nationality, 
and  social  condition.  We  have  abundant  opportunity  to 
study  relations  of  co-existence  and  of  sequence.  Practical 
sociology  is  also  deeply  interested  here,  and  whether  we 
discover  sociological  laws  or  not,  our  statistics  furrtish  the 
knowledge  of  actual  conditions  necessary  to  initiate  re- 
form. The  sociological  purpose  of  this  chapter  is  to 
arrange  and  analyze  the  statistical  data  in  such  a way  as 
to  reveal  these  relations. 

Statistical  Data. 

There  are  many  classes  of  infirmities,  some  of  them  en- 
tirely incapacitating  the  individual,  others  only  partly,  — 
some  present  from  birth,  others  coming  on  with  advanc- 
ing age.  There  are  also  many  different  degrees  of  the 
same  infirmity.  Among  the  blind,  some  are  totally  blind, 
others  have  simple  impaii’inent  of  the  vision.  Among  the 
deaf,  there  are  deaf-mutes,  others  are  deaf  but  not  dumb, 
others  are  only  partly  deaf.  A great  many  of  these 
infirmities  have  comparatively  little  social  importance, 
because  they  are  simply  the  natural  consequence  of  ad- 
vancing age.  Such  are  the  natural  failure  of  eyesight 
and  hearing  as  people  grow  old.  Partial  blindness  and 
partial  deafness  are  often  not  incompatible  with  the  indi- 
vidual earning  his  livelihood  and  fulfilling  his  social 
duties.  There  are  many  other  physical  infirmities,  such 
as  loss  of  arm,  or  leg,  or  eye,  spinal  difficulty,  chronic 
diseased  condition,  which,  while  they  interfere  with  the 
individual’s  full  capacity,  do  not  absolutely  prevent  his 
taking  part  in  the  work  of  the  world.  These  cases  of 
partial  disability  are  difficult  to  register,  because  the  line 
can  never  be  drawn  between  the  different  degrees  of  the 
same  infirmity.  It  is  only  of  the  extreme  cases,  such  as 


THE  INEIRM  AND  DEPENDENT. 


213 


total  blindness,  deaf-muteism,  insanity,  and  idiocy,  that 
we  get  trustworthy  statistics,  and  this  is  due  to  the  fact 
that  these  unfortunates  are  largely  the  inmates  of  public 
institutions. 

The  Blinds  Deaf-mutes,  Insane,  and  Idiotic.  These 
are  the  four  classes  commonly  registered,  and  of  which 
we  have  statistics.  The  insane  and  idiotic  are  often 
classed  together  under  one  term,  such  as  mentally  de- 
ranged, or  simply  insane  and  idiotic.  The  statistics  are 
not  altogether  trustworthy,  because  in  some  countries 
there  is  a larger  number  of  institutions  for  such  persons, 
or  more  of  them  are  gathered  into  institutions,  in  which 
case  the  statistics  are  more  perfect  than  when  they 
are  scattered  among  their  families.  The  numbers  per 
1,000,000  of  the  population  for  some  of  the  countries  of 
Europe  and  the  United  States  are  shown  in  the  follow- 
ing table  (1890-91)  : ^ 


Blind. 

Deaf-mutes. 

Insane. 

Idiotic. 

Total. 

Austria 

806 

1292 

15132 

6568 

4267 

Hungary 

1051 

1089 

603 

1009 

3752 

Sweden 

825 

1109 

1818 

1592 

5344 

Norway 

1289 

1080 

3896 1 

6265 

England  and  Wales  . 

809 

489 

3357^ 

4653 

Scotland 

695 

528 

2594 

1246 

5063 

Ireland 

1135 

715 

3176 

1327 

6353 

United  States  . . . 

805 

659 

1697 

1526 

4687 

North  Atlantic  div. 

777 

670 

2385 

1472 

5304 

South  Atlantic  div. 

888 

634 

1322 

1653 

4797 

North  Central  div. 

783 

731 

1647 

1634 

4795 

South  Central  div. 

895 

581 

959 

1532 

3967 

Western  div.  . . 

561 

430 

1878 

648 

3517 

It  will  be  seen  by  reference  to  this  table  that  the 

1 Allg.  Stat.  Archiv,  Vol.  III.,  p.  474.  Comp.  Eleventh  Census,  U.  S., 
Part  II.  Census  of  England,  1891,  Vols.  III.  and  IV.  Census  of  Scotland, 
Vol.  II. , Parts  I.  and  II.  Census  of  Ireland,  Part  II.  All  further  facts 
are  from  these  sources,  unless  otherwise  stated. 

2 Under  insane  are  included  also  “ Blodsinnige  ” or  idiots. 

® Under  idiots  are  meant  cretins. 

* Includes  both  insane  and  idiotic. 


214 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


total  number  of  these  unfortunates  is  everywhere  less 
than  one  per  cent  of  the  population.  The  number  is 
greatest  in  Norway  and  Ireland,  where  it  exceeds  six- 
tenths  of  one  per  cent.  There  are  extraordinary  differ- 
ences in  the  prevalence  of  the  various  infirmities  in 
different  countries.  Norway  and  Ireland  show  an  ex- 
traordinary number  of  blind.  Austria  has  an  extraor- 
dinary number  of  deaf-mutes.  Ireland  again  shows  the 
largest  number  of  insane  and  idiotic,  while  Norway  fol- 
lows close  after,  and  Scotland  is  next.  It  is  evident 
that  there  is  no  geographical  distribution  of  these  infirmi- 
ties according  to  climate  or  elevation  above  the  sea. 
There  is  no  fixed  law  of  distribution  according  to  race, 
although  it  is  probable  that  race  temperament  displays 
itself  to  a certain  extent  in  the  statistics  of  insanity.  The 
number  of  unfortunates  in  these  different  classes  is  in- 
fluenced most  largely  by  local  conditions,  such  as  food 
and  nourishment,  occupation,  medical  care,  and  general 
social  condition.  The  divisions  of  the  United  States 
show  marked  differences,  insanity  especially  being  more 
frequent  in  the  North  than  in  the  South.  It  will  be 
necessary  to  study  each  infirmity  by  itself,  and  with 
particular  reference  to  the  country  whose  statistics  we 
are  using. 

The  Blind.  Under  the  blind  are  meant,  of  course, 
those  who  are  totally  blind.  In  Ireland  a very  par- 
ticular study  has  been  made  of  them  since  1851.  There 
were  then  reported  7587  blind  persons  in  the  popula- 
tion, and  this  number  increased  to  8679  in  1861,  not- 
withstanding the  decrease  in  population.  This  was  at- 
tributed to  the  prevalence  of  ophthalmia,  especially^  in  the 
poor-houses.  In  1891  the  number  had  decreased  to  5341, 
or  770  less  than  in  1881,  and  1006  less  than  in  1871. 
The  proportion  to  the  population  still  remains  high, 
because  emigration  leaves  the  blind  behind.  In  Scotland 
also  the  number  of  blind  has  decreased  from  3158  in  1881 


THE  INEIKM  AlHD  DEPENDENT. 


215 


to  2797  in  1891,  or  from  846  per  million  to  695.  Other 
countries  of  Europe  show  a slight  decrease  from  decade 
to  decade. 

The  Blind  according  to  Sex  and  Age.  There  are  gener- 
ally more  males  than  females  among  the  blind,  although 
this  is  not  always  the  case.  For  every  hundred  blind 
males  there  are  in  Scotland  90.4,  in  England  91,  and  in 
the  United  States  80.1  blind  females.  In  Ireland,  on  the 
other  hand,  for  every  hundred  blind  males  there  are 
107.3  females,  and  there  is  a slight  excess  of  females  also 
in  Hungary  and  Sweden.  In  respect  to  age,  we  have 
those  who  have  been  blind  from  childhood,  and  others 
with  whom  blindness  has  been  due  to  disease,  accident,  or 
advancing  age.  In  England  17  per  cent,  in  Scotland 
11,  and  in  Ireland  5 per  cent,  were  reported  as  hav- 
ing been  blind  from  infancy.  Even  these  figures  are 
probabl}^  exaggerated,  because  many  of  these  unfortunates, 
poor  and  friendless,  have  no  clear  recollection  of  whether 
they  were  born  blind,  or  became  so  later.  In  fact,  blind- 
ness is  an  infirmity  of  advancing  age.  In  Ireland  71  per 
cent  of  the  total  blind  were  aged  50  years  or  over.  In 
Scotland  50  per  cent  of  the  males,  and  65  per  cent  of  the 
females,  who  were  blind,  were  over  50  years  of  age.  In 
England  45  per  cent  of  the  males,  and  56  per  cent  of  the 
females,  were  55  years  of  age  and  over.  In  England  and 
Scotland  the  number  of  blind  males  exceeds  that  of  blind 
females  until  the  age  of  65,  after  which  the  females  out- 
number the  males  at  like  ages. 

The  combination  of  sex  and  age  shows  why  the  pro- 
portion of  the  two  sexes  varies  in  different  countries. 
There  are  two  conflicting  influences.  Blindness  caused 
by  accident,  dangerous  occupations,  violence,  and  dissipa- 
tion would  fall  more  heavily  on  men  than  on  women ; 
while  blindness  due  to  advancing  age  would  afflict  more 
women  than  men,  simply  because  the  former  live  longer. 
Part  of  the  variation  would  be  explained  by  differences 


216 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


in  sex  and  age  distribution,  and  in  tbe  industrial  or 
agricultural  character  of  the  occupations.  Ireland,  for 
instance,  is  agricultural,  with  many  old  people,  and  we 
have  an  excess  of  females  among  the  blind.  The  United 
States  has  an  excess  of  males  and  a small  proportion  of 
old  people.  England  and  Scotland  are  industrial.  The 
general  excess  in  the  Southern  divisions  of  the  United 
States  (agricultural)  over  the  North  (industrial)  is  prob- 
ably due  to  the  presence  of  the  coloured  population. 

As  blindness  is  an  affliction  of  advancing  age,  it  does 
not  necessarily  interfere  with  marriage.  A very  large 
proportion  of  the  blind  is  found  among  the  married, 
widowed,  and  divorced,  simply  because  of  the  greater  age 
of  persons  in  those  classes. 

Perhaps  some  natural  selection  is  shown  in  the  smaller 
number  of  females  among  the  married.  In  Prussia 
(1880),  out  of  100  blind  males,  55  were  married,  widowed, 
or  divorced,  while  out  of  100  females,  only  53  were  mar- 
ried, widowed,  or  divorced.  In  a normal  population  the 
proportion  is  greater  among  females  than  among  males. 

In  regard  to  religious  confession,  in  Prussia  the  figures 
per  million  were,  for  Protestants  820,  for  Catholics  840, 
and  for  Jews  1100.  The  reason  for  this  excess  among 
Jews  is  not  explained.  In  Ireland  the  proportion  per 
million  was  1216  for  Catholics,  and  884  for  Protestants. 
This,  of  course,  is  due  to  the  fact  that  all  of  the  lower 
classes  are  Catholics. 

In  regard  to  education,  out  of  the  5341  blind  in  Ire- 
land, 2176,  or  about  40  per  cent,  were  uneducated.  Of 
the  3145  reported  as  educated,  184  had  received  education 
since  blindness  came  on,  while  169  had  been  educated  pre- 
viously, and  had  also  received  a special  education  fitted 
to  their  condition  subsequent  to  becoming  blind. 

The  occupations  of  the  blind  depend  upon  their  previous 
occupation,  and  as  to  whether  they  have  been  able  to  con- 
tinue the  exercise  of  it.  So  many  of  them  are  practically 


THE  INEIKM  AND  DEPENDENT. 


217 


unable  to  do  the  latter  that  the  statistics  are  not  of  much 
value.  In  Ireland,  out  of  2932  blind  persons  whose 
actual  or  former  occupation  was  specified,  690  were  farm- 
ers, 377  were  labourers,  348  were  knitters,  301  were 
servants,  254  were  musicians,  and  215  basket-makers.  It 
is  evident  that  former  and  present  occupations  are  mixed 
together  in  this  enumeration.  In  nearly  one-half  of  the 
cases  the  occupation  is  not  specified.  We  have  similar 
statistics  for  Scotland  and  England.  In  the  latter  coun- 
try musicians,  servants,  mat-makers,  broom  and  basket 
makers  are  especially  heavily  represented.  The  number 
of  unoccupied  is  also  large. 

The  causes  of  blindness  would  be  a matter  of  great 
interest  if  our  statistics  were  trustworthy.  But,  as  a mat- 
ter of  fact,  the  causes  are  returned  by  ignorant  persons, 
so  that  they  possess  but  little  scientific  value.  Various 
diseases  are  assigned  as  causes,  and  various  accidents, 
such  as  wounds,  explosions,  injury  by  animals,  etc.  In 
Ireland,  in  1891,  the  most  frequent  causes  assigned  were 
cataract,  ophthalmia  and  external  inflammations,  small- 
pox, and  diseases  of  the  brain  and  nervous  system.  But 
the  unspecified  causes  were  much  more  than  one-half  of 
the  whole. 

The  Deaf  and  Dumb.  Here  we  have  two  classes,  those 
who  are  deaf  and  dumb,  or  the  deaf-mutes,  and  those  who 
are  deaf  but  not  dumb.^  In  Scotland  there  were  2125  deaf 
and  dumb,  and  741  deaf  but  not  dumb.  In  England  there 
were  14,192  deaf  and  dumb,  and  15,088  deaf  only.  The 
number  of  deaf-mutes  is  generally  decreasing.  Among  the 
deaf-mutes  the  males  exceed  the  females;  while  among  the 
deaf  only,  the  females  exceed  the  males,  because  of  increas- 
ing age.  In  England,  among  the  deaf  and  dumb,  the 

iThis  is  the  ordinary  classification.  In  Ireland  the  Census  of  1891 
returns  3365  “deaf  and  dumb,”  and  1099  “dumb  not  deaf.”  This  latter 
seems  to  me  an  extraordinary  number,  and  I have  not  been  able  to  obtain 
an  explanation  of  it.  The  Irish  Census  makes  no  return  of  “ deaf  only.” 


218 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


proportion  per  million  of  each  sex  was  548  for  males  and 
only  434  for  females  ; while  for  the  deaf  only  it  was  444 
for  males  and  592  for  females. 

Deaf-muteism  is  an  affliction  of  childhood.  In  Ireland, 
out  of  3365  cases,  2570,  or  76  per  cent,  were  congenital. 
In  Scotland  the  largest  number  of  deaf  and  dumb  is  found 
during  the  early  years  of  life.  The  steady  decrease  after 
the  age  15  to  20  shows  the  greater  mortality  among  these 
unfortunates. 

In  regard  to  conjugal  condition  the  deaf-mutes  are 
largely  shut  out  from  marriage  because  of  the  mortality 
among  them.  In  Prussia  only  8.5  per  cent  of  the  males 
and  6 per  cent  of  the  females  were  married. 

In  regard  to  religious  confession,  in  Prussia  the  propor- 
tion among  Jews  was  greater  than  among  Catholics  or 
Protestants;  in  Ireland  the  proportion  among  Catholics 
was  greater  than  among  Protestants,  for  the  same  reason 
as  was  assigned  in  regard  to  the  blind. 

In  regard  to  education,  in  Ireland  the  proportion  of  the 
educated  to  the  uneducated,  among  those  who  were  not 
suffering  from  any  infirmity  which  would  render  them 
unsusceptible  of  the  instruction  imparted  to  this  class  of 
the  community,  was  as  1 to  1.3. 

Occupation  depends  very  much  upon  the  social  condi- 
tion of  the  families  in  which  the  deaf-mutes  live.  In 
Ireland  the  largest  number  Avas  found  to  be  servants,  next 
labourers,  then  sempstresses,  boot  and  shoemakers,  tailors, 
etc. 

The  causes  of  acquired  muteism  are  chiefly  epidemic 
diseases,  such  as  small-pox,  measles,  and  scarlatina,  and 
accidents  affecting  the  hearing.  Among  children  who 
have  lost  their  sense  of  hearing  at  an  early  age,  the  faculty 
of  speech  often  disappears  partially  or  wholly. 

In  Ireland  information  was  obtained  of  the  number  of 
congenital  deaf-mutes  born  of  the  same  parents.  In  2328 
families  one  mute  in  a family  occurred  in  1807  instances ; 


THE  INEIRM  AND  DEPENDENT. 


219 


there  were  297  cases  of  two  mutes  born  in  a family;  155 
instances  of  three  mutes  ; 41  cases  of  four  ; 14  of  five  ; 8 
of  six ; 3 of  seven ; 2 of  eight ; and  one  case  of  no  less 
than  11  deaf-mutes  in  a family. 

Special  inquiry  was  also  made  into  cases  of  muteism 
where  consanguinity  of  the  parents  existed.  In  1891  there 
were  185  instances  where  the  parents  of  mutes  were  related, 
and  the  result  of  intermarriage  was  105  cases  of  one  mute 
in  the  family,  — 99  congenital  and  6 acquired ; 44  of  2 
mutes,  — 42  congenital  and  two  acquired;  20  of  three, 
9 of  four,  1 of  five,  3 of  six,  1 of  seven,  and  2 of  eight 
mutes  in  a family  ; all  the  cases  of  more  than  two  mutes 
were  congenital. 

There  is  a general  impression  that  deaf -muteism,  cretin- 
ism, and  idiocy  are  often  the  result  of  the  same  general 
causes.  A recent  Austrian  inquiry,  in  which  special  atten- 
tion was  paid  to  cretinism,  seems  to  support  this  notion. 
In  general  those  districts  where  there  is  the  greatest  num- 
ber of  cretins,  such  as  Salzburg,  Carinthia,  Styria,  and 
Upper  Austria,  also  show  a large  number  of  deaf-mutes. 
Galicia,  however,  has  a large  number  of  deaf-mutes,  but 
few  cretins;  while  the  Tyrol  has  a large  number  of  cretins, 
but  comparatively  few  deaf-mutes.  Among  persons  who 
are  doubly  afflicted  the  combination  of  deaf-muteism  and 
mental  derangement  is  the  most  frequent,  as  will  be 
shown  later. ^ 

The  Insane  and  Idiotic.  In  some  countries  they  do  not 
distinguish  in  the  statistics  between  lunatics  and  idiots, 
so  that  it  is  necessary  to  deal  with  these  two  classes 
together.  We  shall,  however,  distinguish  between  them 
whenever  the  statistics  allow. 

It  is  generally  believed  that  insanity  is  increasing  in 
civilized  countries.  This  is  sometimes  denied,  and  the 
apparent  increase  is  explained  on  the  ground  that  it  has 
become  more  and  more  customary  to  treat  these  unfort- 
iRauchberg,  Bevolkerung  Oesterreichs,  p.  234. 


220 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


unates  in  asylums  and  public  institutions,  where  they  will 
receive  the  best  scientific  care.  This  fact  doubtless  points 
to  the  probability  that  part  of  the  increase  is  simply  due 
to  more  perfect  statistics.  This  is  Mr.  Noel  Humphrey’s 
argument  in  reference  to  the  alleged  increase  of  insanity 
in  England : 

“ Thus  the  mean  annual  proportion  of  registered  lunacy  to  popula- 
tion in  the  five  years  1864-68,  compared  with  that  in  the  preceding 
five  years  1859-63,  showed  an  increase  of  12.9  per  cent,  whereas,  the 
rate  of  increase  in  succeeding  five-year  periods,  compared  with  the 
preceding  quinquennium,  successively  declined  to  11.7,  7.6,  5.0,  and 
to  2.8  per  cent  in  the  five  years  1884-88.  This  marked  and  steady 
decline  in  the  rate  of  increase  of  registered  cases  appears  to  be  incon- 
sistent with  the  supposed  real  increase  of  lunacy,  whereas  it  is  entirely 
consistent  with  the  theory  that  the  increase  in  the  proportion  of  regis- 
tered cases  to  population  is  mainly  due  to  improved  and  more  com- 
plete registration,  which  is  constantly  bringing  within  the  knowledge 
of  the  Commissioners  a larger  proportion  of  the  total  existing  cases 
of  insanity,  and  thus  reducing  the  reserve  of  unregistered  cases.”  ^ 

The  census  of  1891  (England)  shows  that  there  has 
been  an  increase  since  1871  in  the  total  number  of  lunatics, 
but  accounts  for  it  by  supposing  that  the  better  care  in 
asylums  prolongs  life,  and  thus  tends  to  accumulate  the 
total  number.  The  rate  of  discharge  by  death  and  re- 
covery from  the  asylums  averaged  19  per  cent  annuallj* 
in  1871-80,  while  in  1881-90  it  was  only  17.83.  But  with 
a discharge  rate  of  19  per  cent  it  required  an  average  of 
689  new  cases  per  million  persons  living  to  reach  the  rate 
of  1881,  while  with  a discharge  rate  of  17.83  per  cent  it 
required  an  average  of  only  661  new  cases  per  million 
persons  living  to  reach  the  rate  of  1891.  These  figures, 
therefore,  seem  to  indicate  a slight  decrease. 

In  Ireland  the  figures  show  an  enormous  increase  of 
lunatics,  they  having  trebled  since  1851,  or,  if  we  take 
into  account  the  decrease  in  population,  having  quadru- 
pled. In  1851  the  proportion  to  one  million  of  the  popu- 
1 Jour,  of  Statistical  Society,  1890,  p.  213. 


THE  INEIRM  AND  DEPENDENT. 


221 


lation  was  775  ; in  1891  it  was  3174.  The  proportion  of 
idiots  in  1851  was  750  per  million;  in  1891  it  was  1326. 
Since  1881,  however,  there  has  been  a decrease  in  the 
number  of  idiots.  The  proportion  in  some  of  the  coun- 
ties is  still  astounding.  In  the  county  of  Meath  there 
was  one  lunatic  for  every  177  inhabitants,  and  one  idiot 
for  every  438  inhabitants,  showing  a ratio  of  5650  and 
2283  per  million  for  the  two  classes. 

In  Scotland  the  number  of  lunatics  has  increased  from 
2250  per  million  in  1881  to  2594  in  1891,  while  the  num- 
ber of  idiots  has  decreased  from  1603  per  million  in  1881 
to  1246  in  1891. 

Most  other  countries  show  an  increase  in  the  number  of 
those  suffering  from  mental  derangement,  but  as  the  luna- 
tics and  idiots  are  seldom  distinguished,  the  figures  are  of 
little  value.  As  already  remarked,  the  increase  in  the 
number  of  the  insane  in  asylums  does  not  necessarily 
indicate  an  increase  in  insanity.  In  the  United  States, 
for  instance,  the  total  number  of  insane  persons  treated  in 
both  public  and  private  institutions  during  the  year  1889 
was  97,535,  while  during  the  year  1881  there  were  56,205 
treated,  showing  an  increase  in  the  nine  years  of  41,330,  or 
73.53  per  cent.  This  percentage  of  increase  does  not 
indicate  an  increase  in  the  proportion  of  insane  persons  to 
population,  but  rather  a great  increase  in  the  amount  of 
asylum  accommodation  provided,  and  a willingness  on  the 
part  of  the  public  to  make  full  use  of  all  the  facilities  thus 
provided.^  The  total  number  of  insane  per  million  of 
population  was  1697  in  1890,  and  1833  in  1880. 

Special  statistics  of  the  insane  in  regard  to  sex,  age, 
and  conjugal  condition  are  as  follows: — There  are  more 
women  than  men  among  the  insane  in  Sweden,  England, 
Scotland,  and  Ireland. ^ In  Austria  and  Hungary  there  is 

1 Quotation  from  Census  Bulletin  No.  62. 

2 In  Ireland,  however,  there  was  an  excess  of  males  if  we  take  equal 
numbers  living  of  the  two  sexes,  viz.,  4728  insane  males  and  only  4285 


222 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


a greater  number  among  the  males,  but  in  the  former 
country  there  are  some  idiotic  included  under  the  head 
insane.  In  England,  taking  the  insane  and  idiotic  together, 
there  were  114  females  to  100  males.  Where  the  idiotic 
are  taken  separately  there  is  an  excess  of  males.  The  real 
relations  are  brought  out  more  clearly  by  combining  sex  and 
age.  Of  the  97,383  mentally  deranged  in  England,  7722 
were  so  from  childhood,  and  here  we  have  an  excess  of 
males  ; among  the  other  89,661  mentally  deranged,  there 
is  a large  excess  of  females,  taken  as  a whole.  Up  to  the 
age  of  25,  however,  the  males  are  in  excess,  while  after 
that  the  females  are  always  greatly  in  excess.  This  is 
partly,  if  not  wholly,  accounted  for  by  the  greater  mortal- 
ity among  males.  That  idiocy  is  a disease  of  childhood, 
and  insanity  of  advancing  age,  is  shown  by  the  statistics 
of  those  countries  where  they  distinguish  the  two  classes. 
In  Scotland  the  largest  number  of  idiots  was  found 
between  the  ages  15-20,  after  which  it  gradually 
declined.  Among  the  insane,  up  to  the  age  of  20  the 
number  was  small,  but  from  that  age  on,  each  quinquen- 
nial period  up  to  70-75  was  represented  by  a large  num- 
ber; after  40  years  of  age  the  females  outnumbered  the 
males.  For  a true  comparison,  we  should  obtain  the  pro- 
portion of  insane  and  imbeciles  at  each  age  period  to  the 
population  of  that  age.  This  would  show  a constantly 
decreasing  proportion  of  idiots  after  the  age  of  20, 
owing  to  the  great  mortality  among  these  unfortunates  ; 
and  an  increasing  proportion  among  the  insane,  owing  to 
new  cases.  These  statistics  are  confirmed  by  those  for 
Ireland,  where  persons  suffering  from  particular  forms  of 
mental  derangement,  such  as  mania,  monomania,  melan- 

insane  females  per  million  living  of  corresponding  sex.  Even  in  England, 
where  the  proportions  were  3230  males  and  3478  females  per  million  liv- 
ing, it  is  argued  that  the  excess  of  females  is  due  to  their  accumulation 
owing  to  less  rapid  discharge  by  death  or  recovery.  See  Census  of 
England,  Vol.  IV.,  pp.  76  and  90. 


THE  INEIRM  AND  DEPENDENT. 


223 


cholia,  dementia,  idiocy,  epilepsy,  and  various  combina- 
tions of  these  forms  are  distinguished  by  age.  The 
violent  forms,  such  as  the  different  kinds  of  mania,  as  well 
as  melancholia  and  dementia,  scarcely  appear  in  childhood, 
but  are  strongly  represented  after  the  age  of  30.  Idiocy, 
on  the  other  hand,  is  strongly  represented  in  childhood, 
and  the  maximum  number  of  cases  is  found  in  the  age 
class  20-25. 

In  regard  to  conjugal  condition,  in  Ireland  79.6  per 
cent  of  the  mentally  deranged  were  unmarried,  14.8  per 
cent  were  married,  and  5.6  per  cent  were  widowed.  The 
appearance  of  idiocy  in  childhood  acts  as  a bar  to  mar- 
riage, and  the  total  number  of  married  and  widowed  is 
insignificant.  Among  the  insane,  doubtless  the  symptoms 
which  afterwards  develop  into  insanity  may,  by  the  law  of 
natural  selection,  shut  them  out  from  marriage.  It  is  also 
possible  that  married  life  with  its  regularity  and  orderli- 
ness acts  as  a restraining  influence,  while  widowhood  and 
the  divorced  state,  by  bringing  grief,  remorse,  and  passion, 
lead  to  insanity. 

In  regard  to  education,  the  lunatics  and  idiots  are 
largely  illiterate.  In  Ireland,  in  1891,  41.1  per  cent 
could  read  and  write,  11.4  per  cent  could  read  but 
not  write,  47.5  per  cent  could  neither  read  nor  write. 
This  large  amount  of  illiteracy  is  doubtless  due  princi- 
pally to  the  fact  of  idiocy  being  an  affliction  of  child- 
hood. 

Occupations  depend  very  largely  upon  the  kind  of  work 
that  can  be  entrusted  to  persons  of  deranged  or  weak 
minds.  Accordingly,  in  Ireland  we  And  that  the  occupa- 
tion most  largely  represented  among  lunatics  and  idiots 
was  that  of  labourer ; next  in  numerical  order  was 
servants ; and  the  next  largest  number  was  tabulated 
under  the  head  of  farmers  and  their  families.  It  is  evi- 
dent that  we  have  here  simply  the  principal  occupations 
of  the  country,  and  that  the  flgures  are  too  indefinite  to 


224 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


show  any  causal  relation  between  occupation  and  mental 
derangement.^ 

The  cause  of  lunacy  and  idiocy  is  always  difficult  to 
determine,  even  where  skilled  physicians  have  had  charge 
of  the  case,  because  ?t  requires  a minute  knowledge  of 
the  past  history  of  the  person  afflicted.  Where  the 
lunatic  or  idiot  lives  with  his  or  her  family  the  cause 
is  generally  unknown.  In  Ireland,  for  instance,  out  of 
21,188  cases  the  number  in  which  the  cause  was  stated 
was  only  6565,  — less  than  one-third.  Of  these,  1834  were 
attributed  to  moral  or  mental  causes,  2099  to  physical 
causes,  and  2632  were  returned  as  hereditary.  Of  the 
moral  or  mental  causes,  the  largest  numbers  were  attrib- 
uted to  grief  (446)  ; terror  (297)  ; religious  excitement 
(286) ; anxiety  (228)  ; reverse  of  fortune  (224)  ; and  love 
and  jealousy  (132).  Of  the  physical  causes,  the  highest 
numbers  were  intemperance  (671)  ; epilepsy  (320)  ; hajury 
to  the  head  (234) ; sunstroke  (220) ; cerebral  disease 
(163)  ; and  diseases  of  the  nervous  system  (126). 

It  is  usual  to  give  also  a description  of  the  kind  of  lu- 
nacy or  idiocy,  and  this  is  an  indication,  to  a certain  extent, 
of  the  cause.  These  forms,  however,  run  into  each  other 
so  that  our  information  is  not  very  definite.  In  Ireland, 
for  instance,  the  kinds  of  lunacy  and  idiocy  were  classi- 
fied as  follows  in  the  order  of  the  number  suffering  from 
them: — mania,  idiocy,  dementia,  melancholia,  epilepsy, 
acute  mania,  dementia  with  epilepsy,  monomania,  suicidal 
mania,  idiocy  with  epilepsy,  puerperal  mania. 

Double  or  Triple  Misfortune.  We  have  some  unfortu- 

1 In  France,  statistics  of  the  insane  in  asylums  gave  the  following  pro- 
portions per  100,000  of  each  class  (Levasseur,  Pop.  fran^aise,  I.,  p. 
347)  : 


Artists 

. 9.6 

Government  officials . . 

. 1.4 

Lawyers 

Industry 

. 1.1 

Clergy 

Leisure  class  . . . . 

. 1.0 

Physicians 

. . 3.8 

Commercial 

. 0.4 

Professors  and  literary  men  3.5 
Soldiers  and  sailors  ...  2.0 

Agricultural 

. 0.2 

THE  INEIEM  AND  DEPENDENT. 


225 


nates,  who  enter  not  only  into  one,  but  into  several  of  these 
categories.  In  England,  in  1891,  there  were  82  both 
blind,  and  deaf  and  dumb,  380  blind  lunatics,  500  deaf- 
mute  lunatics,  and  25  lunatics  who  were  also  blind,  and 
deaf  and  dumb. 

We  have  thus  completed  a rapid  survey  of  these  four 
principal  kinds  of  misfortune.  Each  one  of  them  is 
worthy  of  study,  particularly  from  a medical  standpoint, 
with  the  view  of  seeking  to  diminish  the  loss  and  suffer- 
ing occasioned  to  the  community.  From  the  standpoint 
of  sociology  it  would  be  desirable  to  point  out  general 
causes,  such  as  food,  nourisliment,  and  sanitary  condition, 
which  may  have  an  influence  in  producing  these  misfort- 
unes. Unfortunately  our  statistics  do  not  carry  us  very  ■ 
far  in  this  direction.  In  France  they  And  blindness 
more  frequent  in  the  south  than  in  the  north,  and  this 
is  believed  to  be  due  to  the  dust,  and  the  blaze  of  the  sun- 
light. In  France  also  it  is  found  that  the  cretins,  idiots, 
and  goitreux  are  especially  numerous  in  mountainous 
regions.  These  misfortunes  are  probably  due  to  poor 
nourishment,  bad  water,  and  absence  of  sun.  Statistics 
from  Austria  show  also  the  greater  frequency  of  cretin- 
ism in  mountainous  regions.  While  in  Austria  the  num- 
ber of  cretins  per  100,000  of  the  population  was  79,  in 
Carinthia  it  was  303,  in  Salzburg  273,  in  Styria  248, 
and  in  the  Tyrol  140.  Statistics  for  Germany  show 
that  idiocy  is  more  frequent  in  the  south  than  in  the 
north,  and  this  again  is  due  to  the  large  number  of  cretins 
in  the  Alpine  regions  of  Bavaria.^ 

Insanity  is  more  frequent  in  the  west  of  Germany  than 
in  the  east,  and  this  is  supposed  to  be  due  to  the  more 
exciting  life  of  an  industrial  region. 

In  Ireland  we  have  a very  careful  distribution  of  the 
various  forms  of  misfortune  according  to  counties,  but 
with  no  very  clear  results.  The  largest  proportion  of 

1 Allg.  Stat.  Archiv,  Vol.  II.,  p.  691. 

Q 


226 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


blind  seems  to  be  in  the  south,  in  Limerick,  Tipperary, 
and  Cork.  The  deaf-mutes  are  scattered  through  differ- 
ent counties  ; while  the  proportion  of  lunatics  and  idiots 
is  greatest  in  Meath.  Ulster  stands  the  lowest  of  the 
four  provinces  in  all  three  kinds  of  infirmities. 

Other  Physical  Infirmities.  Besides  the  blind,  deaf 
and  dumb,  and  mentally  deranged,  there  are  many  other 
forms  of  infirmity  which  occasion  suffering  and  economic 
loss  to  the  community.  An  attempt  is  sometimes  made 
to  enumerate  these  in  a census,  but  as  the  classes  sought 
for  are  never  the  same  in  any  two  countries  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  give  uniform  statistics.  We  can  therefore  only 
give  samples  of  what  different  censuses  have  undertaken, 
in  order  to  get  a notion  of  the  kinds  of  misfortune  preva- 
lent in  a community  besides  those  already  enumerated. 
In  Ireland  they  distinguish  between  the  permanently 
diseased,  comprising  the  deaf  and  dumb,  blind,  lunatic, 
and  idiotic,  and  the  temporarily  diseased.  Under  the 
latter  head  are  understood  those  in  hospitals  and  infirma- 
ries, and  those  sick  at  their  own  homes  who  are  not  able 
to  follow  their  usual  occupations.  The  total  number 
was  35,745  compared  with  30,998  of  the  former  category. 
Of  the  temporarily  diseased,  16,466  were  at  their  own 
homes  ; 4490  were  in  infirmaries,  and  general  and  special 
hospitals  ; and  14,789  in  workhouse  hospitals.  The  pro- 
portion of  those  temporarily  diseased  was  7.6  per  1000 
persons  living.  The  rate  was  liighest  in  the  city  of 
Dublin,  a circumstance  partly  attributable  to  the  hospital 
accommodation. 

In  the  United  States  there  were  194,029  persons  re- 
turned as  so  afflicted  with  various  forms  of  disease  as  to 
be  unable  to  pursue  their  usual  occupation,  giUng  a 
proportion  of  14.5  to  each  1000.  In  addition  to  these 
afflicted  with  disease,  out  of  every  1000  of  the  popula- 
tion there  were  1.3  suffering’  from  the  effects  of  accidents 
and  injuries;  1.4  were  paralyzed;  1.6  were  lame;  0.38 


THE  INEIRM  AND  DEPENDENT. 


227 


had  lost  one  arm  ; 0.35  had  lost  one  leg  ; and  0.38  were 
alfected  with  deformed  or  contracted  limbs. 

In  Massachusetts,  in  1885,  they  made  a much  more 
minute  inquiry  as  to  different  forms  of  physical  infirmity. 
The  following  classification  was  adopted 


Defectivi:  Physical  Condition. 

Males. 

Females. 

Both  Sexes. 

Acute  diseases 

675 

609 

1,184 

Chronic  diseases  . . . . , 

, 7,519 

6,845 

14,364 

Blind 

. 2,086 

1,496 

3,682 

Deaf  

. 1,255 

1,718 

2,973 

Dumb 

74 

60 

134 

Deaf  and  dumb 

438 

390 

828 

Insane  . 

, 2,344 

2,919 

5,263 

Idiotic 

987 

651 

1,638 

Maimed 

. 2,205 

177 

2,382 

Lame  ........ 

. 3,464 

1,682 

5,136 

Bedridden 

135 

298 

433 

Paralytic 

. 1,437 

1,103 

2,540 

Deformed 

399 

281 

680 

Total  individuals  . . . , 

. 21,794 

17,419 

39,213 

Out  of  this  aggregate  number,  1824  were  suffering  from 
more  than  one  misfortune.  The  table  is  interesting,  as 
showing  the  differences  between  the  sexes  in  the  various 
kinds  of  misfortune.  In  addition  to  the  usual  classes  we 
have  a large  number  of  persons  suffering  from  chronic 
diseases,  and  a very  considerable  number  who  are  either 
maimed,  lame,  or  paralytic.  The  proportion  of  the  whole 
number  to  the  total  population  of  Massachusetts  was  20 
per  1000.  Of  the  total  39,213,  no  less  than  6004  were 
paupers,  527  were  homeless  children,  and  117  were  con- 
victs and  prisoners.  Of  the  total  number,  5976  were 
supported  by  public  charity,  540  partially  by  public 
charity,  2396  by  private  charity,  and  887  partially  by 
private  charity.  Of  the  total  number,  only  about  25  per 
cent  were  of  foreign  birth,  although  the  foreign-born  were 
27  per  cent  of  the  total  population. 

1 Census  of  Massachusetts,  1885,  Vol.  I.,  Part  II.,  p.  cxxv.  Persons 
suffering  from  two  or  more  infirmities  are  entered  under  each. 


228 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


Provision  for  the  Infirm.  The  final  consideration  under 
this  section  should  be  to  determine  what  provision  is 
made  for  the  care  of  these  unfortunate  members  of  the 
community.  This  consists  of  asylums  for  the  insane,  the 
idiotic,  the  blind,  the  paralytic,  etc.,  and  of  schools  for 
the  instruction  of  the  blind,  and  the  deaf  and  dumb.  A 
mere  enumeration  of  the  number  of  these  asylums,  or 
schools,  would  be  of  little  use.  We  have  one  statistical 
fact  which  is  of  interest,  namely,  the  number  in  each  of 
these  different  classes  cared  for  in  institutions.  In  Ireland, 
out  of  14,945  persons  returned  as  lunatics,  11,265  were 
in  asylums,  2787  in  workhouses,  while  only  893  were  at 
large.  Out  of  6243  idiots,  996  were  in  asylums,  1170 
were  in  workhouses,  and  4077  were  at  large.  The  differ- 
ent proportions  in  the  two  classes  are  due,  of  course,  to 
the  greater  danger  of  violence  from  lunatics.  In  Massachu- 
setts, out  of  5263  insane,  4384  were  in  institutions,  and 
87 9 in  private  families ; of  the  idiotic,  605  were  in  insti- 
tutions, and  1033  in  private  families.  Of  the  other  kinds 
of  misfortune,  by  far  the  largest  number  of  persons 
suffering  from  them  are  found  in  private  families.  A 
considerable  number  are  in  hospitals  and  poorhouses. 

The  number  of  schools  for  the  education  of  the  blind, 
and  the  deaf  and  dumb  is  a matter  of  special  inquiry. 
In  Ireland  there  were  nine  institutions  for  the  education 
of  the  blind,  with  accommodation  for  758  inmates,  but 
with  only  464  actual  inmates  in  1891.  There  were  four 
institutions  for  the  education  of  the  deaf  and  dumb,  with 
533  inmates.  In  the  United  States,  in  1889,  there  were 
2931  persons  under  instruction  in  institutions  for  the 
blind. 

Pauperism.  There  is  a large  number  of  persons  in 
every  community,  some  of  them  able-bodied,  but  many  of 
them  infirm,  who  are  dependent  upon  public  charity  for 
their  means  of  support.  Some  of  them  are  supported 
entirely  by  the  community,  such  persons  being  collected 


THE  INEIRM  AM)  DEPENDENT. 


229 


generally  in  poorhouses  or  almshouses,  while  others 
receive  out-door  relief.  The  inmates  of  workhouses  for 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  in  1891,  were  declared  to  be  as 
follows : 


Males. 

Females. 

Both  Sexes. 

Ireland 

19,998 

22,350 

42,348 

Scotland 

4,559 

4,922 

9,481 

England  and  Wales . . 

. 102,689 

80,024 

182,713 

Total 

. 127,246 

107,296 

234,542 

These  statistics  are  sufficient  to  show  the  immense 
number  of  paupers  in  the  ordinary  civilized  community. 
Besides  these  inmates  of  workhouses,  there  is  a large 
number  of  persons  receiving  out-door  relief.  This  number 
varies  greatly  from  year  to  year,  and  from  week  to  week. 
In  Ireland,  at  the  time  of  the  taking  of  the  census  in  1891, 
the  number  of  persons  receiving  out-door  relief  was 
62,988,  or  one  out  of  every  75  of  the  population.  The 
number  of  each  class,  and  the  proportion  to  the  popula- 
tion, in  England,  is  shown  in  the  following  table : ^ 

Eeceivino  Eeceiving 

In-door  Eedief.  Otn-DOOR  Eklief.  Total. 

Eatio  Eatio  Eatio 


Number. 

per  1000. 

Number. 

per  1000. 

Number. 

per  1000. 

1850  . 

123,004 

7.0 

885,696 

50.0 

1,008,700 

57.4 

1860  . 

113,507 

5.8 

731,126 

37.1 

844,633 

42.9 

1870  . 

156,800 

7.1 

876,000 

39.4 

1,032,800 

46.5 

1880  . 

180,817 

7.1 

627,213 

24.7 

808,030 

31.8 

1890  . 

187,921 

6.5 

587.296 

20.2 

775,217 

26.7 

1891  . 

185,838 

6.3 

573,892 

19.5 

759,730 

25.8 

It  will  he  seen  from  this  table  that  the  total  number 
of  persons  in  receipt  of  relief  has  greatly  decreased  since 
1870,  and  still  more  the  ratio  of  persons  to  the  total  popu- 
lation. As  regards  the  distribution  of  pauperism,  it  was 
greatest,  in  1891,  in  the  Southwestern  division,  amounting 
there  to  40.8  per  1000  ; it  was  least  in  the  Northwestern, 
only  17.8  per  1000.  The  individual  counties  in  which  it 
was  greatest  were  Norfolk,  45.8,  and  Dorset,  44.8  per 
1 Jour.  Stat.  Soc.,  1892,  p.  133. 


230 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


1000.  The  number  of  paupers  varies  according  to  the 
season,  the  ratio  being  generally  from  0.5  to  1 per  1000 
lower  in  July  than  in  January.  With  one  exception 
(London),  the  number  of  out-door  paupers  in  every 
county  is  much  greater  than  the  number  of  in-door.  In 
London  the  ratio  of  in-door  paupers  is  far  greater  than 
in  any  other  county,  viz.,  13.9,  while  the  ratio  of  out-door 
paupers  is  only  11.6  per  1000. 

The  expenditure  on  relief  of  the  poor  in  1890  amounted 
to  8,444,345  pounds  sterling,  or  at  the  rate  of  5s.  9^cZ.  per 
head  of  the  population.  The  cost  per  head  on  the  mean 
number  of  paupers  of  all  classes  was  £10  17s.  Id.,  and  the 
cost  per  head  on  the  mean  number  of  out-door  paupers 
was  £1  11s.  7|t?. 

The  statistics  in  regard  to  sex,  age,  and  conjugal  con- 
dition of  paupers  vary  greatly  for  different  countries 
according  to  the  system  of  poor  relief.  Illustrations 
of  these  statistics  for  England  and  Ireland  are  as  fol- 
lows : 

Sex,  Conjugal  Condition,  and  Age.  In  England  there 
were  102,689  males  to  86,024  females,  that  is,  there 
were  only  about  85  females  to  100  males.  In  Ireland, 
on  the  contrary,  there  were  19,998  males  to  22,350  fe- 
males, or  nearly  112  females  to  100  males.  In  England 
57.4  per  cent  were  single,  11.7  per  cent  married,  and 
30.7  per  cent  widowed.  In  Ireland  the  figures  were  64.6 
per  cent  single,  11.5  per  cent  married,  and  23.9  per  cent 
widowed.  Of  course,  children  and  old  people  are  the 
most  helpless,  hence  the  large  proportion  of  unmarried 
and  widowed.  Of  the  paupers  in  England,  23.6  per 
cent  were  under  the  age  of  15,  and  45.3  per  cent  over  the 
age  of  55. 

A more  scientific  table  might  be  worked  out,  showing 
the  proportion  of  paupers  of  each  age  to  the  total  number 
of  persons  of  that  age,  as  follows : Under  the  age  of  15 
there  were  43,467  paupers,  or  42  to  1000  of  the  popula- 


THE  INFIEM  AND  DEPENDENT. 


231 


tion ; from  the  age  15  to  55  there  were  54,810  paupers,  or 
3.5  to  1000  ; above  the  age  of  55  there  were  84,726  paupers, 
or  28  to  1000.  These  figures  cover  only  in-door  pau- 
pers. 

There  is  a large  amount  of  illiteracy  among  paupers. 
In  Ireland  48.5  per  cent  could  neither  read  nor  write,  and 
12.9  per  cent  could  read  only.  The  in-door  paupers 
represent  a great  variety  of  occupations,  by  far  the  largest 
number  being  entered  as  servants  and  the  next  largest  as 
labourers.  There  seems  to  be  no  special  connection 
between  occupation  and  pauperism. 

Pauperism  in  Other  Countries.  The  laws  for  the  relief 
of  the  poor  vary  so  widely  that  it  is  impossible  to  give 
statistics  for  different  countries  that  will  be  comparable. 
The  word  pauper  sometimes  means  the  inmate  of  an  in- 
stitution, and  sometimes  any  person  in  receipt  of  relief 
either  from  public  or  private  charity.  The  following 
are  some  of  the  recent  figures. 

In  Germany  the  latest  statistics  are  for  1885.  There 
were  at  that  time  886,571  families,  comprising  1,592,386 
persons  in  receipt  of  poor  relief.  This  makes  an  average 
of  3.4  to  100  of  the  population.  It  appears  from  further 
analysis  that  only  20  per  cent  of  this  total  number  are 
what  would  be  called  in-door  paupers.  There  seems 
to  be  a great  difference  of  custom  in  regard  to  in-door 
and  out-door  relief  in  different  parts  of  Germany.  In 
Bremen,  for  instance,  only  10  per  cent  of  the  paupers  were 
in  institutions,  while  in  Hanover,  Schleswig-Holstein,  and 
Saxe-Weimar  it  was  between  32  and  37  per  cent.^  For 
any  further  study  of  pauperism  it  would  be  necessary 
to  take  up  the  states  one  by  one.  For  the  whole  empire 
they  have  one  other  interesting  figure,  namely,  the  cause 
on  account  of  which  individuals  have  sought  poor  relief. 
The  most  frequent  (28.4  per  cent)  was  sickness  of  the 

1 Article,  Aimenstatistik,  in  Conrad’s  Handworterbuch  der  Staatswis- 
senscbaften,  L,  p.  807. 


232 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


individual  or  of  the  head  of  the  family.  Next  to  this 
came  the  death  of  the  head  of  the  family,  or  his  infirmity 
either  physical  or  mental.  Lack  of  work  was  put  down 
in  6.4  per  cent,  and  drunkenness  in  2.1  per  cent  of  the 
cases. 

In  France  it  is  said  that  there  were  14,116  bureaux  de 
hienfaisance,  extending  aid  to  1,505,115  persons,  which 
would  make  an  average  of  3.98  assisted  persons  to  100  of 
the  population.  These  bureaux  expended  33,620,382  francs 
per  annum,  making  an  average  of  0.89  francs  for  each 
inhabitant.  This  gave  an  average  of  22.34  francs,  or, 
subtracting  the  administrative  cost,  an  average  of  18.79 
francs  for  each  person  assisted. ^ 

In  Austria  the  statistics  for  1881-85  show  a total  of 
270,854  persons  in  poorhouses  and  infirmaries,  an  average 
of  1.20  per  100  of  the  population.  In  Holland  the  figui'es 
for  1879  showed  88,917  single  persons  or  heads  of  families 
in  receipt  of  constant  relief,  or  2.22  per  100  of  the  popu- 
lation ; and  in  addition,  123,543  persons  in  receipt  of  tem- 
porary relief,  or  3.08  per  100  of  the  population.  The  two 
together  made  212,460,  or  5.30  assisted  persons  per  100  of 
the  population.  In  Sweden,  in  1886,  there  were  said  to  be 
228,311  assisted  persons,  or  4.84  per  100  of  the  population. 
Of  these,  46,049  were  altogether  supported  by  the  com- 
munity. In  Norway,  in  1884,  there  were  said  to  be  147,725 
assisted  persons,  that  is,  7.6  per  cent  of  the  population.^ 

Pauperism  in  the  United  States.  The  census  of  1890 
returned  the  total  number  of  inmates  of  almshouses 
as  73,045,  or  1166.4  per  million  of  the  population.  In 
1880  the  total  number  was  66,203,  or  1320  per  million. 
These  proportions  differ  very  much  for  different  sections 
of  the  country,  being  highest  in  the  North  and  low- 
est in  the  South.  Of  the  total  number  of  paupers, 
66,578  were  whites,  and  6467  coloured.  Of  the  white 
paupers,  36,656  were  native-born,  and  27,648  foreign-born, 
ilbid.,  p.  81-4. 


2 Ibid. 


THE  ESFEIRM  AND  DEPENDENT. 


233 


Of  the  native-born  paupers,  21,519  had  both  parents 
native,  3580  had  both  parents  foreign-born,  949  had  one 
parent  native  and  one  parent  foreign-born,  and  in  10,608 
cases,  the  birthplace  of  one  or  both  parents  was  unknown. 
Leaving  out  of  view  the  cases  where  the  parentage  is  un- 
known, and  dividing  the  cases  of  mixed  parentage  equally 
between  the  native  and  foreign,  it  would  appear  that  the 
foreign  population  contributes  directly  or  indirectly  very 
nearly  three-fifths  of  all  the  white  paupers  supported  in 
almshouses.  In  regard  to  sex,  40,741  were  men  and 
32,304  were  women.  The  largest  number  was  found  in 
the  age  period  60  to  69.  The  average  age  of  paupers 
was  51.03  years. 

Scientific  Tests. 

The  principal  difficulties  in  this  branch  of  social  statis- 
tics are  in  classification  and  observation.  When  the  in- 
firm are  gathered  together  in  institutions,  the  statistics 
are  much  more  perfect  than  when  they  are  scattered  in 
their  own  families.  But  for  this  very  reason  international 
comparison  is  not  altogether  fair,  because  those  countries 
often  make  the  poorest  showing  where  the  greatest  care 
is  exercised  to  get  the  unfortunates  into  properly  equipped 
institutions.  It  is  also  obvious  that  where  we  are  study- 
ing the  geographical  distribution  of  the  infirm,  we  must 
apportion  them  to  the  different  parts  of  the  country  whence 
they  came.  Neglect  of  this  simple  rule  compels  the  cen- 
sus commissioner  of  Scotland  to  explain  that  the  large 
number  of  blind  in  certain  counties  is  accounted  for  by 
the  presence  of  institutions  for  the  blind  in  those  counties. 

Owing  to  infirmities  being  sometimes  only  partial,  it  is 
necessary  to  inquire  particularly  into  each  case.  In  Ire- 
land, for  instance,  in  1891  there  were  originally  6663 
persons  returned  as  blind,  but  upon  further  inquiry  1322 
of  these  persons  were  discovered  to  be  only  partially  blind. 
In  Breslau,  out  of  200  persons  returned  as  blind,  34  were 
not  entirely  so.  It  is  almost  impossible  to  determine  the 


234 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


age  when  blindness  came  on,  and  its  cause,  because  the 
victims  are  so  often  poor  and  unintelligent  that  they  for- 
get the  first  fact,  and  have  very  vague  knowledge  of  the 
second. 

These  same  difficulties  are  met  in  the  statistics  of  the 
other  kinds  of  misfortune,  perhaps  even  in  greater  degree. 
Minute  and  scientific  observation  of  the  cases  gathered 
together  in  asylums  and  institutions  will  accomplish  more, 
both  for  medical  and  social  statistics,  than  any  general 
enumeration  of  the  census. 

In  the  statistics  of  pauperism  the  chief  difficulty  is  to 
distinguish  between  permanent  and  temporary  relief,  and 
the  different  kinds  and  amounts  of  temporary  relief.  In 
the  United  States,  for  instance,  the  term  pauper  has 
different  significations  in  different  states.  The  state 
board  of  charities  of  New  York  includes  in  its  annual 
return  of  paupers,  the  inmates  of  the  hospitals  for  the 
sick  and  for  the  insane,  maintained  by  the  New  York  City 
commissioners  of  public  charities  and  correction,  but  these 
are  not  included  in  the  census  returns.  In  Massachu- 
setts the  state  commissioners  of  charities  class  as  panpers 
the  children  in  the  Marcella  Street  Home,  who  are  classed 
in  the  census  as  inmates  of  benevolent  institutions.  In- 
mates of  insane  wards  in  almshouses  are  included  among 
the  paupers,  except  where  such  insane  departments  of 
almshouses  occupy  a separate  site.  In  some  states  paupers 
are  boarded  out,  and  these  are  included  in  the  United 
States  census  under  the  head  of  inmates  of  almshouses, 
although,  strictly  speaking,  they  are  not  inmates.  It  is 
evident  that  where  we  have  a variety  of  institutions,  such 
as  almshouses,  infirmaries,  hospitals,  and  asylums  for  the 
insane,  deaf  and  dumb,  and  blind,  it  is  difficult  to  calcu- 
late exactly  the  number  of  real  paupers.^ 

There  is  one  other  difficulty  in  ascertaining  the  number 
of  individuals  who  are  in  receipt  of  public  relief.  This  is 
1 Census  Bulletin,  154. 


THE  INEIEM  AND  DEPENDENT. 


235 


due  to  the  fact  that  paupers  are  at  liberty  to  leave  the 
poorhouse,  and  to  re-enter.  This  is  a custom  among 
many  paupers  who  seek  the  poorhouse  as  a last  resort 
when  occupation  or  energy  fails.  The  official  figures 
give  only  the  total  number  of  inmates  at  any  one  period. 
So,  also,  the  figures  for  out-door  relief  give  only  the  total 
number  receiving  relief  on  a particular  day.  Mr.  Charles 
Booth  has  made  a careful  investigation  in  order  to  de- 
termine, if  possible,  the  number  of  different  individuals 
actually  receiving  relief  during  the  year.  For  this  pur- 
pose he  finds  it  necessary  to  increase  the  number  of  in- 
door paupers  by  85  per  cent,  and  the  number  of  out-door 
paupers  by  170  per  cent.  This  results  in  some  startling 
conclusions,  as,  for  instance,  that  40  per  cent  of  the  popu- 
lation of  England  of  the  age  of  65  and  over  is  in  receipt 
of  poor  relief.! 

Reflective  Analysis. 

When  we  consider  these  statistics  of  the  infirm  and  de- 
pendent, we  must  at  once  acknowledge  the  importance 
and  interest  of  such  data  for  the  community.  The  pres- 
ence of  these  persons  is,  first  of  all,  an  economic  burden 
to  the  state,  because  they  do  not  support  themselves,  and 
in  many  cases  have  to  be  entirely  supported  by  the  com- 
munity. In  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  alone,  the  direct 
money  cost  of  poor  relief  was  nearly  11,000,000  pounds 
sterling.  If  we  add  to  this  the  cost  of  the  insane,  the  blind, 
and  the  deaf  and  dumb  in  asylums,  and  consider  what  the 
able-bodied  among  these  unfortunates  might  earn,  we  get 
some  idea  of  the  economic  burden.  In  many  cases  also 
the  infirmity  of  the  head  of  the  family  throws  the  depend- 
ents into  want,  or  at  least  suffering,  even  if  it  does  not 
bring  them  on  to  the  poor  relief. 

Much  more  important  than  the  economic  consideration 

1 Journal  of  the  Statistical  Society,  1891,  pp.  625,  631.  For  exhaustive 
study  of  English  pauperism,  see  Booth,  The  Aged  Poor  in  England  and 
Wales,  1894. 


236 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


is  the  thought  of  the  suffering  and  distress  involved  in 
the  presence  of  the  infirm  in  the  community.  One  author 
reckons  that  there  are  more  than  500,000  mentally  de- 
ranged persons  in  the  population  of  Europe  and  North 
America  alone.  What  an  immense  amount  of  suffering 
for  them  and  for  others  is  involved  in  this  condition  ! It 
is  for  the  purpose  of  discovering  remedies  for  such  fright- 
ful ills  that  statistical  science  tries  to  enumerate  them. 
Especially  in  the  question  of  the  connection  between  vari- 
ous forms  of  infirmity  and  the  economic  and  social  con- 
dition of  the  community  does  statistical  science  find  an 
important  field  to  work  in.  If  we  can  prove  that  cretinism 
and  deaf-muteism  are  the  result  of  poor  food,  bad  dwell- 
ings, and  bad  drainage,  then  there  is  an  obvious  field  for 
efforts  towards  social  reform.  If  we  can  show  that  gath- 
ering these  unfortunates  into  public  asylums  and  institu- 
tions not  only  is  the  best  policy  for  them,  but  is  also  most 
compatible  with  the  humanitarian  instincts  of  the  commu- 
nity, it  is  an  argument  for  social  activity  in  that  form. 

It  is  an  interesting  question  whether  insanity  is  increas- 
ing or  not.  It  is  the  common  impression  that  among 
savages  there  are  few  insane.  Still  further,  it  is  believed 
that  the  increased  nervous  activity  among  civilized  men 
induces  insanity.  The  question  cannot  be  answered  defi- 
nitely, because  of  the  imperfect  statistics  of  former  times. 
As  already  mentioned,  the  increasing  tendency  to  care  for 
the  insane  in  institutions  gives  an  apparent  increase 
which  may  not  be  real.  It  has  also  been  suggested  that 
this  scientific  care  of  the  insane  and  idiotic  prolongs 
their  lives  so  that  the  number  in  existence  at  any  one 
time  becomes  greater.  It  might  also  be  true  that  a larger 
number  recover  owing  to  scientific  care,  but  the  very  fact 
that  they  have  received  such  care  tends  to  swell  the  num- 
ber. It  is  pretty  obvious  that  we  can  reach  no  very 
definite  conclusion  on  this  point  until  practically  all  the 
insane  are  gathered  into  asylums,  and  records  have  been 


THE  INEIEM  AND  DEPENDENT. 


237 


kept  showing  the  number  received,  the  number  dying, 
and  the  number  discharged  cured.  It  is  only  under  these 
circumstances  also  that  our  statistics  of  age,  kind  of  in- 
firmity, probable  cause,  duration,  physical  and  moral 
effect,  will  be  satisfactory.  If  it  turn  out  that  the  high 
pressure  of  modern  life  increases  insanity,  then  it  is  evi- 
dent that  we  have  reason  to  modify  our  educational  system 
and  the  demands  which  we  make  upon  the  mental  activity 
of  the  community. 

In  the  meantime,  it  is  a cheering  sign  of  progress  that 
the  number  of  blind,  deaf  and  dumb,  and  paupers  seems 
to  be  growing  less  in  proportion  to  the  population.  This 
is  due,  it  is  to  be  hoped,  not  only  to  better  medical  care, 
but  also  to  better  economic  condition,  showing  that  the 
increased  wealth  of  the  modern  community  is  coming  to 
the  good  of  all. 


CHAPTER  XI. 


SUICIDE. 

Sociological  Purpose. 

In  the  last  chapter  we  gave  some  negative  evidence  of 
the  social  condition  of  the  community,  namely,  the  statis- 
tics of  those  forms  of  misfortune  which  detract  in  a 
marked  degree  from  the  economic  prosperity  and  the 
social  happiness  of  the  community.  As  we  said  then, 
these  incidents  appear  in  the  light  of  misfortunes.  We 
do  not  hold  the  blind,  deaf-mutes,  lunatics,  or  idiots 
responsible  for  the  infirmity  which  makes  them  a burden. 
Even  in  the  case  of  paupers,  — sickness,  accident,  old 
age,  lack  of  employment,  and  unavoidable  misfortune  are 
so  often  present  that  our  condemnation  is  not  very  severe. 

But  there  is  another  kind  of  social  action  which  brings 
loss  and  suffering  to  the  community,  which  we  do  not 
willingly  class  under  the  head  of  accident  or  misfortune. 
In  suicide,  vice,  and  crime,  we  believe  not  only  that  the 
individuals  inflict  suffering  upon  themselves  and  upon 
others,  but  that  this  suffering  might  have  been  avoided 
if  they  had  chosen  to  regulate  their  conduct  differently. 
These  actions  are  equally  negative  evidence  of  the  eco- 
nomic prosperity  and  social  happiness  of  the  commimity. 
For  we  cannot  consider  a community  prosperous  where 
suicide,  vice,  and  crime  are  prevalent,  nor  as  iucreasing  in 
prosperity  where  these  actions  are  becoming  more  numer- 
ous. We  naturally  use  such  statistics  as  an  index  of 
social  condition,  and  in  many  respects  a surer  index  than 
those  of  economic  prosperity,  such  as  the  increase  of 
wealth,  or  the  growth  of  thrift.  Such  statistics  will 

238 


SUICIDE. 


239 


therefore  be  eagerly  welcomed  by  any  community  sensi- 
tive to  the  signs  of  social  progress. 

In  another  respect  these  actions  are  of  great  interest, 
because  we  now  reach  the  domain  of  moral  statistics,  which 
have  excited  so  much  discussion  on  account  of  the  ques- 
tion of  moral  responsibility  involved  in  them.  As  we 
shall  see  in  a later  chapter,  the  effort  to  show  the  reign 
of  law  in  these  actions  seems  to  weaken  that  moral  respon- 
sibility which  we  impose  upon  the  criminal  by  assuming 
that  he  had  freedom  of  choice  to  do  or  not  to  do  the 
criminal  act.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  you  admit  this  full 
freedom  of  the  will,  then  you  seem  to  take  from  Statistics 
its  real  purpose,  namely,  to  show  by  recurring  regular- 
ities the  connection  between  cause  and  effect.  This  is 
the  great  problem  in  moral  statistics,  to  determine  how 
large  a domain  is  left  for  the  freedom  of  the  will. 

In  the  statistics  of  suicide  we  stand  on  the  threshold  of 
this  great  question.  Suicide  is  voluntary  death,  not  due 
to  accident  or  disease.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  not  a 
natural  action.  It  is  unnatural,  and  there  must  be  some 
powerful  cause  driving  a man  to  it.  But  the  more  power- 
ful this  cause,  and  the  more  independent  of  the  will  of  the 
victim,  the  more  involuntary,  i.e.,  necessary,  becomes  the 
act  of  suicide.  This  is  the  great  question  to  determine. 
If  a bridge  breaks  down,  or  an  embankment  gives  way  and 
a person  is  killed,  we  call  the  death  accidental ; but  if  a 
man  or  woman  is  driven  to  suicide  by  misery  or  despair, 
are  not  these  the  cause  of  death,  in  the  same  sense  as  the 
breaking  of  the  bridge  or  the  caving-in  of  the  embank- 
ment? That  is,  was  it  in  the  power  of  the  individual  to 
resist  in  the  one  case  any  more  than  in  the  other  ? 

Nevertheless,  we  consider  suicide  as  more  or  less  a 
voluntary  action.  We  cannot  think  of  it  as  entirely 
compulsory.  Men  are  often  tempted  to  take  their  own 
life,  and  still  do  not.  They  often  commit  suicide  under 
the  impulse  of  the  moment,  when  if  they  had  taken  time  for 


240 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


second  thought,  they  would  not  have  done  it.  We  readily 
admit  that  circumstances  often  almost  justify  the  suicide, 
but  we  do  not  readily  admit  that  the  act  was  unavoidable. 

The  question  of  free-will  in  the  case  of  suicide  is  some- 
what different  from  that  of  crime,  because  the  community 
does  not  feel  an  equal  necessity  of  holding  the  person  re- 
sponsible. The  action  does  not  benefit  the  victim,  and 
does  not  directly  injure  the  community.  Pity  takes  the 
place  of  blame,  and  we  are  inclined  to  give  to  circum- 
stances all  the  extenuating  influence  they  can  bear.  In 
addition,  we  are  accustomed  by  experience  to  look  upon 
suicide  as  the  almost  natural  sequence  of  certain  courses 
of  action.  While  holding  on,  therefore,  to  the  notion  of 
the  freedom  of  the  individual,  we  are  not  indisposed  to 
admit  the  occasionally  almost  overwhelming  influence  of 
outward  circumstances.  It  is  this  which  makes  the  study 
of  suicide  the  fitting  introduction  to  the  study  of  statistics 
of  vice  and  crime,  where  the  question  of  moral  respon- 
sibility has  such  far-reaching  importance. 

If  we  admit  now  that  the  phenomenon  of  suicide  is  more 
or  less  beyond  the  will  of  the  individual,  that  is,  governed 
by  law,  how  are  we  to  conceive  of  it?  Is  it  simply  an 
effect  of  environment  ? Or  is  it  a part  of  the  great  law 
of  natural  selection  by  which  the  stronger  survive,  and 
the  weaker  are  pushed  to  the  wall?  We  have  two  re- 
markable books,  one  by  Adolph  Wagner,^  and  the  other 
by  Morselli,^  in  which  the  statistics  of  suicide  are  treated 
from  these  points  of  view.  Suicide  is  looked  upon  as  a 
phenomenon  which  is  to  be  explained  by  other  phenomena, 
such  as  physical,  ethnological,  social,  and  psychological 
influences  surrounding  the  individual.  The  purpose  of 
this  chapter  is  to  give  a resume  of  this  evidence,  in  order 

1 Die  Gesetzmassigkeit  in  den  scheinbar  willkiirlichen  Handlnngen  der 
Menschen,  Hamburg,  1864  (out  of  print). 

2 II  Suicidio,  Milano,  1879  ; English  translation  (abridged).  Suicide, 
New  York,  1882. 


SUICIDE. 


241 


to  show  the  importance  of  suicide  as  a social  fact,  and 
also  to  introduce  the  question  whether  it  is  a voluntary 
or  an  involuntary  action. 

Statistical  Data. 

The  Number  of  Suicides.  The  number  of  suicides  is 
somewhat  difficult  to  determine,  because  it  is  not  always 
easy  to  distinguish  between  suicides  and  accidental  or 
violent  deaths.  The  statistics  are  sufficiently  accurate, 
however,  to  show  striking  differences  between  countries. 
The  numbers  per  1,000,000  inhabitants,  for  the  different 
countries  of  Europe  (average  of  1887  to  1891)  are  as 
follows : 


Denmark  . 

. 253 

Belgium  . 

. 122 

Holland  . . . 

58 

France  . . 

. 218 

Sweden 

. 119 

Scotland . . . 

56 

Switzerland 

. 216 

Bavaria 

. 118 

Italy  . . . . 

52 

Prussia  . . 

. 197 

England 

. 80 

Ireland  . . . 

24 

Austria . . 

. 159 

Norway 

. 66 

These 

figures 

show  very  marked 

differences,  and 

al- 

though  there  are  some  variations  from  year  to  year,  the 
general  order  of  the  countries  is  not  changed.  There  are 
some  remarkable  extremes  besides  those  shown  above. 
Saxony  has  a constantly  enormous  rate  of  suicides,  the 
average  from  1862  to  1886  being  322  per  million  inhabi- 
tants, and  in  1887  it  was  340.  Russia  is  supposed  to  have 
a rate  of  about  27  per  million  inhabitants,  and  Spain  also 
is  low.  In  the  United  States  the  rate  for  1881-85  was,  in 
Connecticut  103,  in  Massachusetts  91,  in  Vermont  87,  and 
in  Rhode  Island  82.  Some  of  the  contrasts  between 
neighbouring  countries,  such  as  Sweden  and  Norway, 
France  and  Belgium,  Belgium  and  Holland,  England  and 
Ireland,  are  very  remarkable.^ 

1 For  statistics  of  suicides  from  1816  to  1875,  see  Morselli,  Suicide, 
p.  20.  For  later  statistics,  see  Bulletin  de  PInstitut  international  de 
Statistique,  Vol.  VII.,  2 erne  livraison,  p.  306.  Jahrbiiclier  fiirNational- 
oekonomie  und  Statistik,  Dritte  Folge,  Bd.  Vin.,  p.  430.  Publications 
of  American  Statistical  Association,  Vol.  III.,  p.  163. 


242 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


In  all  these  countries  there  has  been  a great  increase  of 
suicide  since  statistics  were  first  collected.  In  Norway 
alone  there  seems  to  have  been  a decrease  since  the  begin- 
ning of  the  century.  In  Prussia  the  number  has  more 
than  doubled,  in  France  it  has  nearly  trebled.  In  England 
it  showed  a remarkable  regularity  for  many  years,  averag- 
ing always  about  66  per  million,  but  in  recent  years  the 
number  has  increased,  until  in  1891  it  was  85  per  million. 
Morselli,  after  careful  examination  of  the  figures,  comes  to 
the  following  conclusion:  “Frequency  of  suicide  shows 
a growing  and  uniform  increase,  so  that,  generally,  volun- 
tary death  since  the  beginning  of  the  century  has  increased, 
and  goes  on  increasing  more  rapidly  than  the  population, 
or  the  general  mortality.”  This  average  amiual  increase 
of  suicide  is  in  the  generality  of  cases  between  one  and 
three  per  cent.  In  Sweden,  while  the  average  increase  of 
population  was  0.81  per  cent,  the  annual  increase  of  suicide 
was  1.5  per  cent.  In  France  the  increase  of  population 
was  0.07  per  cent,  of  suicides  2.06  per  cent ; in  Italy,  of 
population  0.7  per  cent,  of  suicides  1.28  ; in  Prussia,  of 
population  0.98  per  cent,  of  suicides  1.07. 

The  regularity  from  year  to  year  in  the  number  of 
suicides  is  sometimes  very  striking.  In  England  the 
number  varies  less  than  that  of  homicides  and  illegitimate 
births.  In  Sweden  it  varies  less  than  the  annual  number 
of  homicides,  or  of  marriages,  and  varies  but  little  more 
than  the  number  of  deaths,  or  of  accidental  deaths.  In 
Bavaria  the  annual  number  of  suicides  varies  less  than 
homicide,  marriage,  illegitimate  births,  and  accidental 
deaths.  In  fact,  suicide  is  one  of  those  phenomena  where 
we  expect  to  find  much  the  same  regularity  and  much  the 
same  variation  as  in  the  ordinary  so-called  vital  statistics 
of  a population.^ 

Influence  of  Olimate  and  Seasons  on  Suicide.  Morselli 
has  made  great  efforts  to  trace  the  influence  of  what  he 
1 Morselli,  Suicide,  pp.  30  and  34. 


SUICIDE. 


243 


calls  cosmico-natural  forces  on  the  number  of  suicides. 
In  regard  to  climate  and  geographical  position  no  very 
clear  law  is  discernible.  There  are  two  marked  centres 
where  the  rate  of  suicide  is  always  high,  namely,  Paris  and 
the  kingdom  of  Saxony.  As  we  recede  from  these  centres, 
the  rate  of  suicide  grows  less.  Thus,  it  is  less  in  Southern 
France  than  in  Northern.  It  is  very  large  in  the  Prus- 
sian province  of  Saxony,  and  lowest  in  the  Rhine  province. 
It  is  highest  in  the  southeast  of  England,  and  lowest  in 
North  England  and  Wales.  Finally,  the  rate  of  suicide 
is  low  in  Spain,  Italy,  Greece,  Ireland,  Scotland,  Finland, 
and  Russia,  countries  lying  along  the  circumference  of  a 
circle  whose  centre  is  the  region  of  highest  suicide  in 
Central  Europe.  This  distribution,  although  not  exact 
in  every  respect,  is  rather  remarkable. 

The  influence  of  changes  of  temperature  on  suicide  is 
better  determined.  If  we  take  the  average  number  by 
months,  we  find  that  in  general,  and  for  all  countries,  it 
increases  regularly  from  the  beginning  of  the  year,  and 
reaches  a maximum  in  June  ; it  then  decreases,  reaching 
a minimum  in  December.  In  Germany,  taking  the  sta- 
tistics for  Prussia,  Saxony,  Wiirtemberg,  Baden,  and  Ham- 
burg, for  the  14  years  from  1872  to  1885,  covering  87,439 
suicides,  the  distribution  by  months,  on  the  basis  of  1200 
per  year,  or  100  per  month,  was  as  follows  : 


January  . 

. 78 

May . . . 

. 122 

September  . 

. 99 

February  . 

. 85 

June  . . 

. 126 

October  . . 

. 92 

March  . . 

. 90 

July . . . 

. 121 

November  . 

. 80 

April  . . 

. 119 

August  . . 

. 108 

December  . 

. 70 

It  seems  that  the  tendency  to  commit  suicide  is  influ- 
enced, not  so  much  by  the  intense  heat  of  mid-summer, 
as  by  that  of  spring  and  early  summer.  It  is  the  change 
of  temperature  which  affects  the  system.  This  fact  must 
be  brought  into  connection  with  the  greater  frequency  of 
mental  diseases  at  this  same  season  which  partly  accounts 
for  the  increase  of  suicide.^ 

iMorselli,  Suicide,  p.  64.  Allg.  Statist.  Archiv,  Vol.  II.,  p.  45. 


244 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


Suicides  have  been  distributed  aceording  to  the  day  of 
the  week  on  which  they  occur,  showing  the  minimum 
number  on  Saturday,  pay-day,  and  the  next  lowest  on 
Sunday,  the  day  of  rest  and  recreation.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  proportionate  number  is  very  heavy  on  Monday 
and  Tuesday,  when  the  debauch  is  over,  the  money  spent, 
and  the  hardships  of  life  again  felt. 

Ethnological  Influences.  There  has  been  a great  ten- 
dency to  attribute  differences  in  the  suicidal  mania  to 
differences  in  race  temperament.  People  of  Germanic 
blood  are  supposed  to  be  of  more  melancholie,  and  at  the 
same  time  idealistic  temperament,  and  thus  to  be  easily 
tempted  to  take  their  own  lives.  The  Romanee  nations 
are  thought  of  as  light-hearted,  and  little  disposed  to  take 
the  ills  of  life  seriously.  In  support  of  this  view  is  the 
fact  that  the  highest  rate  of  suicide  is  found  in  Central 
Germany.  Still  further,  those  parts  of  Prussia  Avhich 
have  the  purest  Germanic  blood  show  the  highest  rate, 
while  the  eastern  provinces,  with  an  intermixture  of 
Slavic  blood,  show  the  lowest.  In  Switzerland  the  rate 
is  higher  in  the  German  cantons  than  in  the  French  or 
Italian.  In  Austria  it  is  higher  in  German  Austria  than 
in  Hungary.  In  Italy  the  higher  rate  in  the  north  is 
supposed  to  be  due  to  the  greater  proportion  of  Germanic 
blood  ; and  in  France,  the  high  rate  about  Paris  is  due  to 
the  same  influence,  intensified  by  the  presence  of  a great 
city.  The  very  low  rate  in  Ireland,  Spain,  Southern  Italy, 
Roumania,  Russia,  and  Finland  is  attributed  to  the  influ- 
ence of  Celtic,  Latin,  and  Slavonic  blood.  The  great  dif- 
ficulty with  this  theorj^  is  the  comparatively  low  rate  of 
suicide  in  Anglo-Saxon  England.  Morselli  attributes  it 
to  intermixture  with  Celtic  blood,  but  tins  is  contrary  to 
the  best  historians.  Economic  and  political  causes  may 
possibly  have  reduced  the  Germanic  tendency  to  suicide. 
The  general  conclusion  seems  to  be,  that  the  peoples  of 
Germanic  blood  have  a greater  tendency  to  suicide, 


SUICIDE. 


245 


although  other  causes  very  often  modify  or  change  this 
tendency. 

Social  Influences  on  Suicide.  Habits  and  manner  of  life 
must  have  great  influence  in  encouraging  or  controlling 
the  tendency  to  suicide.  If,  however,  the  race  influence 
be  a strong  one,  then  all  these  social  influences  would  be 
intermixed  with  ethnical  ones,  and  be  difficult  to  distin- 
guish. If  we  choose  out  marked  social  differences,  we 
shall  find  some  interesting  variations.  In  Europe,  for 
instance,  it  is  well  known  that  suicides  are  more  common 
among  Protestants  than  among  Catholics.  We  have  in 
support  of  this  the  broad  fact  that  purely  Catholic  coun- 
tries like  Italy,  Spain,  and  Portugal  have  the  smallest 
number  of  suicides,  while  countries  almost  purely  Protes- 
tant, such  as  Saxony,  Denmark,  and  parts  of  Prussia,  are 
among  those  having  the  largest.  Such  a classification 
might  seem  to  depend  upon  race  more  than  religion,  since 
all  the  first  group  are  Celtic  or  Latin,  and  all  the  second  are 
Germanic.  A better  basis  for  inquiry  is  found  in  those 
countries  where  the  population  is  partly  Catholic  and 
partly  Protestant.  It  is  then  necessary  to  compare  the 
number  of  suicides  of  each  religious  confession  with  the 
total  number  of  persons  of  that  confession.  Morselli 
makes  37  comparisons  of  this  sort,  and  in  only  4 of 
them  do  the  Catholics  show  a rate  of  suicide  superior  to 
that  among  Protestants  ; in  Bavaria  and  Prussia  the  rate 
of  suicide  among  Protestants  was  two  and  a half  times  that 
among  Catholics.  The  Jews  everywhere  show  a strong 
aversion  to  suicide.^ 

In  regard  to  education  and  culture,  it  is  a well-known 
fact  that  those  countries  where  the  people  are  the  best 
educated  show  the  largest  number  of  suicides.  Exam- 
ples of  this  are  Prussia  and  Saxony,  with  their  com- 
pulsory school  education  on  the  one  side,  and  Spain 
and  Italy,  with  their  great  amount  of  illiteracy  on  the 
1 Morselli,  Suicide,  p.  122. 


246 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


other.  In  Italy  illiteracy  is  greatest,  and  suicide  least 
frequent  in  the  southern  provinces.^  The  statistics  of 
school  attendance,  of  newspapers,  of  libraries,  and  other 
evidences  of  culture  show  parallel  results.  This  connec- 
tion of  suicide  with  education  is  explained,  of  course,  by 
the  fact  that  mental  development  brings  greater  danger 
of  nervous  disorders,  and  greater  sensitiveness  to  mental 
and  physical  suffering. 

Influence  of  Economic  Condition.  Here  we  can  trace 
the  same  general  influence  as  in  births,  deaths,  and  mar- 
riages. Bad  times,  wars,  and  commercial  crises  tend  to 
increase  the  number  of  suicides,  but  the  effect  is  generally 
observable  the  following  year.  The  years  1846-47  showed 
an  increase  in  suicide  in  all  the  countries  of  Europe, 
except  Sweden  and  Bavaria.  The  years  1873-74  were  fol- 
lowed by  an  increase  of  suicide  in  Prussia,  Austria,  and 
Italy.  In  England  the  number  varies  inversely  with  the 
per  capita  exports  and  imports. 

Suicide  in  Cities.  In  general,  suicide  is  more  frequent 
in  the  city  than  in  the  country.  In  Prussia,  for  instance, 
in  1888  the  rate  for  the  whole  state  was  198,  while  that 
for  Berlin  was  288.  In  German  cities  of  15,000  inhabitants 
and  over,  the  number  of  suicides  from  1887  to  1891  was 
246  per  million.  Morselli  says  that  for  every  100  suicides 
in  each  country,  there  were  in  London  123,  in  Berlin  140, 
in  Copenhagen  112,  in  Stockholm  464. ^ Nagle  gives  the 
rate  of  suicide  in  1880  in  London  as  93.4,  in  New  York 
126,  Berlin  276,  Philadelphia  80,  Vienna  316,  Glasgow 
23.7,  Brooklyn  54.7,  Liverpool  55.1.^  The  greater  fre- 
quency of  suicide  in  cities  is  explained  by  the  immigra- 
tion of  the  vicious  and  dissipated,  and  by  the  greater 
excitement  and  worry  of  city  life. 

Individual  Biological  Influence.  There  are  always  more 

1 Ibid.,  p.  131.  Statistica  delle  Cause  di  Morte,  Anni  1889  e 1890. 

2 Morselli,  II  Suicidio,  p.  273. 

® Nagle,  Suicide  in  New  York  City. 


SUICIDE. 


247 


men  than  women  among  suicides,  generally  in  the  propor- 
tion of  3 or  4 to  1.  In  England  the  number,  in  1891,  was 
1863  males  and  620  females,  which  is  a proportion  of  3 
to  1.  In  Prussia  the  proportion  was  3.7,  in  Italy  4,  and 
in  France  3.7,  to  1.  The  proportion  of  men  to  women 
is  always  very  low  in  England,  showing  that,  for  some 
reason  or  other,  English  women  are  more  inclined  to 
suicide  than  the  women  of  other  nations.  It  is  easy  to 
understand  that  there  should  be  more  men  committing 
suicide  than  women.  They  have  more  responsibility  and 
care,  are  more  ambitious,  are  less  willing  to  acquiesce  in 
defeat,  are  more  given  to  dissipation  and  reckless  conduct, 
and,  as  a rule,  have  more  physical  courage.  Morselli 
asserts  that  the  organic  structure  of  the  brain  makes  women 
feel  atmospheric  changes  quicker,  so  that  the  increase  of 
suicide  in  the  spring  shows  itself  more  quickly  among 
them  than  among  men.  He  also  asserts  that  the  increase 
of  suicide,  especially  in  cities,  is  falling  more  heavily  upon 
men  than  upon  women. 

Influence  of  Age.  The  number  of  suicides  increases 
with  age.  Suicide  among  children  is  rare,  although 
such  cases  do  occur.  In  Prussia,  from  1883  to  1888, 
no  less  than  289  school-children  committed  suicide.^ 
In  large  cities  cases  occur  among  very  young  children, 
driven  to  it  by  misery.  Some  old  figures  for  France 
record,  out  of  an  aggregate  of  25,760  suicides  from  1835 
to  1844,  1 child  of  5 years,  2 of  9 years,  2 of  10  years, 
6 of  twelve  years,  7 of  13  years,  and  2 of  14  years.  It 
is  always  difficult  to  ascertain  the  motive  for  suicide,  even 
among  adults  ; among  children  it  is  much  more  difficult. 
In  Prussia  the  prevailing  motive  among  the  pupils  in  the 
higher  institutions  was  failure  in  examination  or  pro- 
motion, while  among  those  in  the  lower  institutions  it 
was  fear  of  punishment.  Mental  derangement  was  also 
assigned  as  the  cause  in  numerous  cases. 

iPreuss.  Zeitschrift,  1890,  S.  C.  xxxiii. 


248 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


Combination  of  Age  and  Sex.  The  true  method  of 
measuring  the  suicidal  mania  is  to  compare  the  number 
of  suicides  of  each  sex  and  age  period  with  the  total 
number  of  persons  of  that  sex  living  at  each  age.  The 
number  of  suicides  is  so  small  that  the  proportions  vary 
somewhat  from  year  to  year.  An  example  of  the  dis- 
tribution is  given  in  the  following  table,  showing  number 
of  suicides  per  1,000,000  of  each  age  and  sex  in  Prussia 
(1877)  : 


Age. 

Men. 

Women. 

Age. 

Men. 

Women. 

Under  15  . 

7 

3 

40  to  50  . 

. 500 

100 

15  to  20  . 

. 150 

70 

50  to  60  . 

. 750 

90 

20  to  25  . 

. 320 

80 

60  to  70  . 

. 750 

140 

25  to  30  . 

. 280 

60 

70  to  80  . 

. 670 

130 

30  to  40 . 

. 320 

70 

Over  80  . 

. 460 

120 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  table  that  among  men  there 
is  an  increase  of  suicidal  mania  at  the  age  of  20  to  25, 
the  period  of  youthful  passion  and  dissipation,  but  that 
the  real  maximum  is  not  reached  until  the  age  of  50 
to  60.  Among  women  it  is  reached  about  10  years 
later.  There  is,  however,  a greater  proportion  of  youth- 
ful suicides  among  women  than  among  men.  In  Eng- 
land the  tendency  to  suicide  among  women  of  the  age 
15  to  20,  owing  to  shame,  is  so  great  that  the  number 
actually  exceeds  the  number  of  suicides  among  men  of 
that  age.  This  difference  is  clearly  brought  out  in  the 
following  table,  showing  the  number  of  male  suicides 
to  100  female  suicides  in  England  and  Wales,  1861-70  : 


Age  . . . 

0-15. 

15-20. 

20-35. 

35—45.  45-55. 

55-65. 

Proportion  . 

129 

89 

182 

288  296 

400 

Age  . . 

65-75. 

75-85. 

85-. 

All  Ages. 

Proportion  . 

373 

281 

254 

278 

It  will  be  seen  that  while  ordinarily  there  are  278  male 
suicides  to  100  female,  the  proportion  is  much  less  up 
to  the  age  of  35,  and  that  during  the  age  15  to  20  there 
are  only  89  male  suicides  for  100  female. 


SUICIDE. 


249 


Conjugal  Condition  of  Suicides.  If  we  classify  the  sui- 
cides according  to  conjugal  condition,  we  shall  find  that 
the  proportionate  number  is  greater  among  the  single 
than  among  the  married,  and  is  still  greater  among  the 
widowed  and  divorced.  In  Italy,  for  instance,  while 
the  rate  was  45.9  for  the  married,  it  was  56.4  for  the 
single  (15  years  and  over),  and  72.8  for  the  widowed. 

If  we  distinguish  conjugal  condition  according  to  sex, 
we  shall  find  that  the  favourable  influence  of  marriage  is 
much  less  marked  among  women  than  among  men.  In 
some  cases  the  proportionate  number  of  suicides  is  even 
greater  among  married  women  than  among  the  single. 
In  Italy,  if  we  represent  the  number  of  married  suicides  of 
either  sex  by  100,  the  number  among  single  men  would 
be  153,  while  among  single  women  it  would  be  only  118 ; 
among  widowers  it  would  be  represented  by  275,  and 
among  widows  by  157.  There  are  very  great  fluctuations 
in  these  proportions  from  year  to  year.  They  probably 
point  to  two  influences,  namely,  the  power  of  natural 
selection  by  which  persons  with  incipient  suicidal  mania 
are  more  or  less  shut  out  of  marriage,  on  account  of  symp- 
toms of  mental  disorder  or  violent  temper  manifesting 
themselves ; and  secondly,  the  good  influence  of  married  life 
in  conducing  to  order  and  temperance.  The  higher  num- 
ber among  the  widowed  is  explained  by  grief,  and  by  the 
economic  distress  and  anxiety  often  following  widowhood. 
That  marriage  does  not  have  as  favourable  influence  among 
women  as  among  men  is  due  to  the  dangers  which  child- 
bearing brings  to  the  woman.  The  highest  rate  of  suicide 
is  found  among  the  divorced,  but  the  cases  are  so  few 
in  number  that  not  much  reliance  can  be  placed  upon 
the  proportions.  But  it  can  easily  be  conceived  that 
violence  of  temper  and  passion  which  lead  to  divorce 
might,  in  many  cases,  subsequently  lead  to  suicide.  In 
this  same  connection  it  is  curious  to  observe  the  favour- 
able influence  of  children.  Married  men  with  children 


250 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


have  a lower  rate  of  suicide  than  childless  married  men. 
Widowers  with  children  have  a lower  rate  than  childless 
widowers.  And  among  women  the  influence  of  maternal 
affection  is  so  favourable  that  it  overcomes  the  adverse 
influence  of  widowhood,  so  that  widows  with  children 
have  a lower  rate  than  childless  married  women.  ^ 

Among  the  special  social  influences  affecting  the  in- 
dividual none  is  greater  than  that  of  occupation  and 
profession.  We  can  hence  classify  the  suicides  accord- 
ing to  occupation  and  social  position,  whether  labourers, 
employers,  civil  or  military  ofi&cials,  etc.  This  classi- 
fication, however,  is  of  no  value  unless  we  compare  the 
number  of  suicides  with  the  total  number  of  persons  in 
each  occupation.  Such  an  attempt  has  been  made  in 
Italy,  and  the  figures,  although  probably  not  very  exact, 
show  the  following  general  order  of  occupation.  The 
numbers  (for  1889)  are  on  the  basis  of  10,000  males,  15 
years  of  age  and  over,  in  each  occupation  according  to  the 
census  of  1881. ^ 


Police,  custom-house  officers, 
etc 

8.0 

Coachmen,  cab-drivers,  etc.  . 2.9 
Bakers 2.4 

Military 

6.2 

Workers  in  iron  . . 

, ...  2.2 

Clerks  and  bookkeepers  . . 

4.5 

Porters 

, ...  1.6 

Merchants 

3.7 

Domestic  servants  . 

...  1.2 

These  figures  are  not 

very 

trustworthy  on 

account  of 

the  uncertainties  of  the  classification  by  occupations. 
There  is  one  profession  for  which  we  have  particular 
figures  that  are  of  interest.  Suicide  in  the  army  is  much 
more  frequent  than  among  civilians.  The  rate  per  million 
was,  in  Austria  1220,  in  Germany  670,  in  Italy  400,  in 
France  290,  in  Belgium  240,  in  England  230,  in  Russia  200. 
These  proportions  are  far  higher  than  those  for  men  of 
the  same  age  in  the  general  population.®  Suicide  is  most 

iMorseUi,  Suicide,  p.  231,  fi. 

2 Statistica  delle  Cause  di  Morte,  1891. 

*Allg.  Statist.  Archiv,  Vol.  II.,  p.  715. 


SUICIDE. 


251 


frequent  among  the  lower  officers  of  the  army,  three  or 
four  times  as  frequent  as  among  the  privates.  The  reason 
for  this  suicidal  mania  seems  to  be  the  monotony  of  the 
service.  Suicide  is  more  frequent  when  the  army  is 
abroad  than  when  at  home,  and  in  hot  climates  than  in 
cold. 

Suicide  is  more  frequent  among  prisoners  than  among 
the  ordinary  population.  Here  the  reason  is  manifest, 
while  the  opportunity  for  suicide  is  less,  so  that  the  exact 
figures  are  not  very  instructive. 

Motive  for  Suicide.  It  is,  of  course,  very  difficult  to  as- 
certain the  exact  motive  for  suicide.  The  person  himself 
is  dead,  and  has  often  carried  his  secret  with  him ; the 
family  friends  try  to  conceal  the  real  motive  in  case  it  is 
a disgraceful  one  ; and  often  it  is  a combination  of  evils 
which  drives  to  suicide,  any  one  of  which  may  be  assigned 
as  the  motive.  Very  little  stress,  therefore,  is  to  be  laid 
upon  the  relative  number  of  cases  set  down  against  each 
cause.  It  is  only  by  taking  a long  series  of  years  and 
many  different  countries  that  we  get  some  general  notion 
of  the  principal  reasons  driving  persons  to  suicide.  The 
distinction  of  sex  also  gives  us  some  interesting  results. 
The  following  table  (from  Morselli,  p.  278)  must  be 
studied  with  these  considerations  in  mind. 


Out  op  1000  SmoiDKS. 

Pettssia,  1873-75. 

Feance, 

1866-75. 

Italy,  1872-77. 

Motive  Assigned. 

Male. 

Female. 

Male. 

Female. 

Male. 

Female, 

Mental  disorders  . . 

229 

441 

252 

416 

280 

417 

Physical  diseases  . . 

61 

64 

127 

118 

82 

73 

Weariness  of  life  . . 

127 

97 

45 

29 

43 

7 

Passions 

27 

63 

17 

45 

49 

75 

Vices 

129 

21 

149 

66 

12 

1 

Domestic  affliction  . . 

48 

51 

138 

164 

96 

90 

Pinancial  trouble  . . 

41 

12 

65 

18 

170 

27 

Misery 

35 

18 

48 

36 

101 

62 

Remorse,  shame,  etc.  . 

103 

108 

64 

62 

42 

27 

Despair,  unknown  . . 

199 

125 

95 

67 

125 

231 

One  sees  immediately  the  great  dominance  everywhere 


252 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


of  mental  disorders  as  the  cause  of  suicide.  It  is  never  less 
than  one-fourth  of  the  whole  number,  and  is  oftener  one- 
third.  This,  doubtless,  points  to  a fact,  while  at  the  same 
time  showing  a tendency,  which  is  very  prevalent,  to  allege 
insanity  as  the  cause  of  suicide.  Closely  connected  with 
mental  disorders  are  suicides  from  emotional  causes,  such 
as  remorse,  shame,  despair,  and  domestic  afdiction.  Of 
less  importance  are  causes  ascribed  to  passion,  vice,  and 
weariness  of  life.  On  the  other  hand,  physical  suffering, 
under  the  head  of  disease  and  misery,  plays  a very  con- 
siderable part.  It  is  obvious,  however,  that  this  classifi- 
cation is  so  minute  that  it  is  folly  to  insist  upon  its 
exactness.  Between  countries  there  seem  to  be  some 
characteristic  differences,  as  misery  is  especially  prominent 
in  Italy,  and  mental  disorders  in  the  Germanic  countries. 
The  distinction  of  sex  reveals  the  greater  prominence  of 
mental  disorders  among  women,  and  of  weariness  of  life, 
vice,  and  financial  trouble  among  men.  A classification  by 
age  would  show  that  passion,  shame,  and  remorse  are  high- 
est in  youth,  while  the  proportion  for  mental  diseases,  vice, 
and  financial  trouble  increases  up  to  maturity  and  com- 
mencement of  old  age.  Among  women,  shame  is  alleged 
as  a cause,  especially  below  the  age  of  20,  while  vice  and 
debauchery  are  very  strong  between  the  ages  of  40  and  60. 

Method  and  Place  of  Suicide.  It  has  long  been  known 
that  there  was  great  regularity  in  the  method  of  commit- 
ting suicide,  in  the  same  country  from  year  to  year. 
Hanging  seems  to  be  the  favourite  method,  except  in  Italy. 
Next  to  hanging  comes  drowning,  and  next  to  drowning, 
the  use  of  firearms.  Women  prefer  the  less  \fiolent 
methods.  Hence,  in  almost  all  countries  drowning  is 
more  common  among  women  than  among  men,  while  the 
use  of  firearms  is  naturally  more  common  among  men. 
Regularity  is  shovm  even  in  the  choice  of  the  same  kind 
of  poison  from  year  to  year.  In  large  cities  the  use  of 
firearms  is  more  common  than  in  the  country,  while  hang- 


SUICIDE. 


253 


ing  is  less  so.  Industrial  progress  introduces  new  methods 
of  suicide,  as,  for  instance,  crushing  by  radroad  trains. 
Asphyxia  from  charcoal  began  in  Paris,  and  has  been 
steadily  extending  into  the  provinces. 

Scientific  Tests. 

A great  deal  of  uncertainty  rests  upon  all  statistics  of 
suicide,  owing  to  the  difficulty  of  determining  whether  a 
death  has  been  an  accident  or  a suicide.  Where  suicide 
is  felt  to  be  a disgrace  to  the  family,  as  it  very  often  is,  an 
effort  will  be  made  to  ascribe  the  death  to  accident.  In 
the  case  of  persons  found  dead,  as,  for  instance,  drowned, 
it  is  often  absolutely  impossible  to  say  with  certainty 
whether  it  was  a suicide  or  not.  With  the  increasing 
attention  paid  to  the  statistics  of  death,  greater  care  is 
exercised  in  assigning  the  cause,  and  so  our  statistics  of 
suicide  will  probably  become  more  trustworthy.  In 
Prussia,  since  1883,  they  have  taken  particular  pains  to  con- 
trol these  statistics.  For  this  purpose,  they  began  to  com- 
pare the  special  returns  of  suicide  made  in  the  general  death 
returns,  and  those  made  by  the  police,  the  army,  and  the 
railroad  and  mining  service.  The  result  was  that,  by  this 
comparison,  the  total  number  of  suicides  in  1883  was 
raised  23.8  per  cent.  This  shows  that  in  the  case  of  sui- 
cide a special  investigation  will  probably  be  necessary 
before  our  figures  will  be  either  complete  or  trustworthy.  ^ 

The  great  uncertainty  of  the  motives  assigned  for  sui- 
cide, as  ordinarily  classified,  has  already  been  alluded  to. 
Here  also  it  will  only  be  by  expert  service  that  we  shall  get 
trustworthy  results.  Still,  where  the  proportion  remains 
the  same  through  a series  of  years,  it  shows  that  popular 
opinion  in  regard  to  the  motive  has  remained  about  the 
same.  For  this  popular  opinion  there  must  be  some  foun- 
dation in  the  general  circumstances  connected  with  suicide, 
so  that  while  our  statistics  may  not  show  us  the  true 
iPreuss.  Zeitschrift,  1886,  S.  K.,  p.  xxiii. 


254 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


motives,  they  at  least  show  us  the  motives  ascribed.  The 
general  picture,  therefore,  may  be  a true  one,  and  reveal, 
in  a way,  the  connection  between  suicide  and  other  facts 
of  social  life.  It  may  even  do  more,  by  emphasizing  that 
condition  of  life  in  each  country  which  is  particularly 
severe  in  its  pressure,  leading  even  to  suicide.  When  we 
find  insanity  in  Germany,  and  physical  misery  in  Italy, 
assigned  as  the  principal  motive  for  suicide,  we  seem  to 
detect  the  influence  of  the  social  condition  of  the  two 
countries.  So,  also,  when  we  distribute  motives  according 
to  seasons,  and  find  insanity  most  frequently  assigned 
during  the  early  summer,  we  connect  the  phenomenon 
immediately  with  the  greater  frequency  of  mental  dis- 
orders at  that  time,  which  we  in  turn  carry  back  to  the 
influence  of  temperature.  In  the  same  way,  when  we  dis- 
tribute motives  according  to  the  age  of  the  suicide,  and 
find  shame  and  passion  strongly  represented  in  youth, 
domestic  affliction  and  financial  trouble  in  old  age,  our 
statistics  of  motives  seem  to  agree  with  our  psychology  of 
social  life. 

The  final  question  under  this  head  would  be  as  to  the 
real  regularity  manifest  in  this  phenomenon.  Here  we 
have  a variety  of  considerations.  Westergaard  speaks  as 
follows  on  this  question  : “ The  regularity  so  often  spoken 
of  in  this  branch  of  statistics  is  altogether  mythical,  the 
numbers  varying  enormously  from  year  to  year.  In  Den- 
mark the  number  of  suicides  in  1875  was  394,  in  1876  it 
was  507,  and  almost  the  same  number  in  1871.  In  most 
countries  the  number  of  suicides  is  increasing  rapidly. 
In  Prussia  the  number  of  suicides  increased  from  3300  in 
1873  to  5300  in  1882.”  But  while  there  is  no  regularity 
in  the  number  of  suicides,  there  is  an  astonishing  regular- 
ity in  some  of  the  minor  relations,  such  as  the  number  of 
male  suicides  to  female.  The  regularity  is  not  as  great 
as  in  the  case  of  births,  but  it  is  still  remarkable.  If  we 
compare  the  variations  according  to  the  theory  of  proba- 


SUICIDE. 


255 


bilities,  we  shall  find  that  the  variation  in  the  relative  num- 
ber of  men  and  women  is  not  greater  than  the  mean  error 
would  allow.  The  same  experiment  can  be  carried  out  in 
respect  to  the  choice  of  the  method  of  suicide  by  men  and 
women.  Taking  the  whole  number  of  suicides  in  Den- 
mark from  1861  to  1886,  it  will  be  found  that  56.0  per 
cent  of  the  women  and  82.9  per  cent  of  the  men  committed 
suicide  by  hanging.  Applying  this  average  percentage  to 
the  suicides  for  (say)  1865,  we  should  have  295  men  and 
53  women.  The  actual  numbers  were  294  and  57.^ 

But  while  in  many  of  these  minor  relations  we  have 
great  regularity  in  the  statistics  of  suicide,  when  we 
come  to  predict  the  absolute  number  for  a large  country 
the  difficulties  become  very  great.  It  is  necessary  to  find 
years  when  the  economic  condition  is  the  same  in  regard 
to  prices,  wages,  credit,  employment,  and  the  like.  The 
seasons  must  be  similar,  and  abnormal  social  influences, 
such  as  wars,  must  be  absent.  To  distinguish  these 
different  things  is,  however,  much  more  difficult  than  to 
construct  the  ordinary  categories  of  married  and  unmar- 
ried persons,  etc.  All  that  we  can  accomplish  is,  by 
observation  of  these  economic  and  other  relations,  to  reduce 
the  variations  somewhat,  and  thus  to  discover  any  ten- 
dency towards  regularity. 

Reflective  Analysis. 

Statistics  of  suicide  give  rise  to  various  reflections  con- 
cerning the  importance  of  this  phenomenon  for  the  com- 
munity. Suicides  being  for  the  most  part  men  and 
women  of  adult  age,  the  economic  loss  to  the  community 
is  very  considerable,  inasmuch  as  it  loses  the  future  pro- 
ductive labour  of  the  suicide  and  also  the  cost  of  bring- 
ing him  up.  It  is  difficult  to  get  a numerical  expression 
for  this,  because  so  much  depends  upon  the  quality  of  the 

1 Westergaard,  Grundziige  der  Statistik,  pp.  13  and  46. 


256 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


life  which  has  been  sacrificed.  Morselli  reckons  for  the 
persons  committing  suicide  in  Italy  during  the  12  years 
from  1866  to  1877,  that  they  had  lived  through  a total 
of  448,555  years.  Reckoning  the  average  age  in  Italy  as 
27  years,  this  aggregate  would  represent  a loss  of  16,613 
individuals  in  the  average  time  of  life,  equal  to  an  annual 
loss  of  1386  individuals  in  the  prime  of  life.  A similar 
calculation  for  Prussia  gave  an  annual  average  loss  of 
4096,  and  for  France  of  7896  persons  in  the  prime  of 
life.  These  figures  are,  of  course,  to  a certain  extent  ficti- 
tious, because  many  of  the  suicides  are  better  out  of  Hfe 
than  in  it.  But  they  serve  as  a rough  measure  of  the 
economic  loss. 

Much  more  important  than  any  economic  loss  is  the 
consideration  of  suicide  as  an  indication  of  social  distress. 
Suicide  means  failure  in  life  for  a certain  number  of  mem- 
bers of  the  community.  It  is,  therefore,  a matter  of  great 
consequence  whether  it  is  increasing  or  decreasing,  and 
what  its  connection  is  with  the  other  facts  of  social  life. 
The  most  striking  fact  is  the  constant  increase  of  suicide 
with  civilization.  There  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that  this 
is  true,  and  the  general  reasons  for  it  are  not  difficult  to 
understand.  One  is  the  increased  number  of  desires  and 
wants  of  the  civilized  man,  which  if  unsatisfied,  he  pre- 
fers death  rather  than  continued  life.  The  savage  resorts 
to  suicide  only  under  stress  of  extreme  hunger  or  ph}'si- 
cal  misery ; the  civilized  man  from  shame,  dishonour, 
remorse,  disappointed  ambition,  — feelings  which  are  pres- 
ent only  in  a state  of  culture.  Again,  civilization  brings 
with  it  increased  intellectual  development,  and  that  in 
itself  means  greater  delicacy  of  the  nervous  system  and 
greater  exposure  to  mental  disorder.  This  seems  to  be 
a part  of  the  price  that  we  pay  for  our  chdlization. 
Finally,  while  the  civilized  community  has  an  incompara 
bly  greater  command  over  nature  than  the  savage,  so  that 
the  struggle  for  existence  for  the  whole  community  is 


SUICIDE. 


257 


much  less  severe,  nevertheless,  the  competition  between 
individuals  has  perhaps  become  greater.  The  result  is 
that  a greater  number  are  driven  by  the  struggle  for 
existence  into  despair,  and  hence  commit  suicide.  The 
position  of  the  Germanic  nations  with  their  high  rate  of 
suicide  seems  to  support  this  theory,  although  when  we 
come  to  measure  different  degrees  of  civilization  we  are 
met  with  insuperable  difficulties.  The  great  question  is 
whether  we  can  trace  suicide  to  social  causes  wliich  are 
within  the  power  of  the  community  to  change. 

This  brings  us  to  the  question  whether  suicide  is  sub- 
ject to  natural  law,  and  is  thus  a necessary  function  of 
social  life.  We  look  upon  it  as  in  a certain  sense  immoral. 
But  the  connection  between  suicide  and  morality  is  not 
altogether  clear.  The  question  is  one  of  extreme  diffi- 
culty, because  there  is  no  single  standard  of  morality 
applicable  to  all  countries,  and  even  if  we  have  some 
general  notion  of  what  we  mean  by  the  morality  of  a 
community  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  measure.  With 
the  ordinary  phenomena  of  immorality,  such  as  illegiti- 
mate births  and  crime,  there  is,  according  to  Morselli,  no 
direct  connection.  For  instance,  suicide  is  increasing  in 
all  countries,  while  the  number  of  illegitimates  is  gener- 
ally stationary  or  diminishing.  It  is  true,  that  if  we  take 
the  religious  confessions,  we  find  among  Protestants  the 
largest  proportion  of  illegitimates  and  the  greatest  num- 
ber of  suicides.  But  if  we  take  separate  provinces  in 
the  same  country,  we  find  no  uniform  relation  between 
suicide  and  illegitimacy.  In  regard  to  crime  there  seems 
to  be  a certain  coincidence.  It  has  been  observed  that 
where  crimes  against  the  person  are  frequent,  as  in  South 
Italy,  suicides  are  rare.  On  the  other  hand,  where  crimes 
against  property  are  frequent,  suicides  are  frequent.  The 
same  thing  has  been  observed  in  France,  Austria,  and 
Bavaria.  But  no  international  comparison  shows  any 
direct  connection  between  the  frequency  of  crime  and 


s 


258 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


that  of  suicide.  In  Italy  and  Spain,  where  there  is  a high 
proportion  of  delinquents,  suicides  are  infrequent,  while 
in  countries  where  crime  is  least  frequent,  like  Denmark 
and  England,  the  one  has  a very  high  rate  of  suicide, 
and  the  other  a comparatively  low  rate. 

Morselli  also  observes  that  the  people  most  devoted  to 
the  moral  sentiment,  and  who  feel  the  domestic  affections 
most  keenly  (the  Germans  and  Scandinavians)  are  not 
those  who  have  the  least  suicidal  tendency,  but  rather  the 
contrary.  The  effort  to  make  suicide  dependent  upon 
morality  seems  to  be  a failure. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  regularity  of  suicides  is  not  suf- 
ficient to  show  that  it  is  a mere  physical  phenomenon  like 
births  or  deaths.  It  is  rmdoubtedly  subject  to  many 
influences,  some  of  them  natural,  some  social,  and  some 
individual.  As  these  influences  vary,  the  number  of 
suicides  will  vary.  In  general,  suicide  is  a mark  of  fail- 
ure in  the  struggle  for  existence.  It  is  the  weak,  the 
defective,  the  unfortunate,  the  weak-minded,  and  the  dis- 
sipated who  find  the  struggle  for  existence  too  severe, 
and  are  pushed  to  the  Avail.  The  reason  for  their  weak- 
ness may  be  misfortune,  inherited  defect,  or  social  circum- 
stance. The  remedy  for  the  social  evil  lies  in  tracing  out 
and  removing  those  causes  which  are  remoAmble,  and  in 
strengthening  the  character  of  the  indiAudual.  Ea-cu 
Morselli,  whose  AV'hole  pliilosophy  is  evolutionary,  con- 
cludes his  book  by  saying  that  the  whole  cure  is  contained 
in  this  one  precept : — “To  develope  in  man  the  power  of 
Avell-ordering  sentiments  and  ideas  by  which  to  reach  a 
certain  aim  in  life;  in  short,  to  give  force  and  energy  to 
the  moral  character.” 


CHAPTER  XII. 


CRIME. 

Sociological  Purpose. 

We  turn  now  to  a very  important  and  most  interesting 
branch  of  statistics.  Man  lives  in  society,  and  society  lays 
down  certain  laws  and  rules  to  govern  him.  Overstep- 
ping the  bounds  of  these  laws  and  rules,  doing  the  for- 
bidden things,  is  declared  to  be  crime  and  is  punished  by 
society.  This  phenomenon  — the  wilful  doing  by  the 
individual  of  that  which  society  has  forbidden  — this 
revolt  of  the  individual  against  the  organization  — is  one 
of  very  great  importance.  If  this  resistance  of  the  indi- 
vidual is  persistent  and  widespread,  it  destroys  the  social 
organization  and  we  return  to  a state  of  anarchy.  Society 
is  well  organized  in  proportion  as  the  individual  resistance 
is  reduced  to  a minimum  or  kept  within  safe  bounds. 

It  is,  therefore,  of  importance  for  every  state  to  investi- 
gate crime  and  its  causes.  First  of  all  we  desire  to  know 
the  extent  of  crime,  whether  it  is  increasing  or  decreasing. 
Then  we  study  the  kind  of  crime  — that  is,  the  character  of 
this  transgression  against  the  law;  whether  it  is  against  the 
person  or  against  property,  whether  it  is  great  or  small, 
violent  or  deceitful  (fraud);  from  passion,  or  malice,  or 
viciousness  ; against  good  morals  (^■.e.,  shocking  the  moral 
feeling  of  the  community,  as  rape),  or  of  a simple  legal 
character,  as  selling  liquor  without  a license.  In  all 
these  directions,  again,  we  must  investigate  the  relative 
increase  or  decrease  of  particular  crimes,  for  that  shows 

269 


260 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


the  direction  in  which  the  moral  sense  of  the  community 
is  developing. 

It  is  of  great  importance  to  investigate  the  influ- 
ences leading  to  crime  or  determining  the  character 
of  the  transgression,  in  order  to  adapt  means  of  preven- 
tion and  repression  accurately  to  the  e\dl.  Influences  of 
climate,  geographical  situation,  nationality,  seasons  and 
months,  possess  general  scientiflc  interest  and  are  also  of 
some  value  even  in  directing  legislative,  judicial,  and 
administrative  action.  Influences  of  scarcity  of  food,  com- 
mercial crises,  war,  etc.,  are  of  more  particular  interest. 
Individual  social  influences,  such  as  social  condition  (pros- 
titution), domicile,  wealth,  education,  religion,  profession; 
and  individual  biological  influence,  such  as  sex,  age,  and 
conjugal  condition,  are  of  still  more  immediate  interest 
in  directing  administrative  action. 

The  state  ought,  by  all  means,  to  investigate  the 
methods  it  takes  of  repressing  or  preventing  crime : — 
the  number  of  accused,  acquitted,  and  convicted;  the 
number  of  habitual  criminals,  z.e.,  those  convicted  for  a 
second  time  or  oftener;  the  penalties  inflicted,  death, 
imprisonment  (length  of),  fines,  etc.,  and  whether  these 
are  fully  carried  out  or  not.  Close  comparison  ought  to 
be  made  between  the  penalty  inflicted  and  the  increase  or 
decrease  of  each  particular  crime,  in  order  to  decide  whether 
the  penalty  is  really  accomplishing  its  purpose,  which  is 
not  to  take  vengeance  on  the  criminal  but  to  deter  him 
and  others  from  doing  the  criminal  act. 

Such  investigations  have  a double  interest.  First,  the 
purely  practical  interest  for  each  state  organization  and 
for  the  student  of  comparative  administrative  and  crimi- 
nal law,  — viz.,  to  determine  the  measures  necessary  and 
expedient  for  the  prevention  and  repression  of  crime,  to 
what  degree  the  present  measures  adopted  by  different 
states  are  successful,  and  in  what  way  they  shordd  be 
amended.  And  second,  the  general  scientific  question:  — 


CKIME. 


261 


What  is  the  real  character  of  this  social  phenomenon  we 
call  crime  ? What  influences  it  ? its  extent,  its  increase 
or  decrease,  and  its  quality  ? And  finally,  how  far  is 
crime  simply  the  result  of  these  influences,  how  far  is  it 
the  result  of  purely  subjective  motives?  — or  in  other 
words,  the  question  of  determinism  or  free-will  in  social 
human  actions.  In  the  latter  respect  we  are  on  the  same 
ground  as  in  suicide  and  vice,  only  the  question  is  more 
difficult  and  complicated,  for  in  crime  there  is  always  the 
hope  of  escaping  detection,  and  hence  of  gaining  a benefit 
without  suffering  any  of  the  consequences.  This  cannot 
be  true  in  suicide  and  can  hardly  be  the  case  in  vice. 

In  regard  now  to  the  work  of  Statistical  Science  in  this 
department. 

It  is  evident  that  we  cannot  get  by  statistical  observa- 
tion, or  by  any  other  observation,  the  whole  criminality 
of  a community,  that  is,  the  disposition  to  transgress,  or 
transgression  of  thought,  word,  or  deed.  Such  dispo- 
sition to  transgress  would  be,  of  course,  the  desirable 
measure  of  the  law-abiding  character  of  the  community  ; 
but  although  thoughts  and  words  are  social  phenomena, 
they  nevertheless  escape  observation,  and  as  a rule  we 
do  not  try  very  much  to  control  them. 

Even  in  regard  to  transgressions  by  deed  we  cannot 
get  at  the  whole  mass,  for  the  endeavour  always  is  to 
conceal  them,  and  even  when  suspected  they  cannot  always 
be  proven.  If  the  science  were  left  to  itself  it  would 
have  an  impossible  task  to  perform.  Fortunately  it  can 
lean  on  the  judicial  and  police  organization  of  the  state, 
and  in  fact  we  consider  only  those  transgressions  which 
come  to  the  notice  of  the  administration. 

Even  with  such  aid  there  are  many  difficulties  in  the 
investigation. 

In  the  first  place  there  is  the  natural  difficulty  that  the 
laws  are  not  the  same  in  one  country  as  another.  This 
makes  international  comparison  of  the  amount  of  criminal- 


262 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


ity  impossible.  Then  there  is  frequent  change  of  law 
in  the  same  country,  which  makes  comparisons  in  time 
(increase  or  decrease)  futile.  The  official  classification 
also  varies,  so  that  an  act  which  receives  one  name  in 
one  country  receives  another  name  in  another  country, 
making  comparisons  utterly  misleading ; or  a single  name 
covers  a greater  variety  of  acts  in  one  country  than  in 
another.  Again,  there  are  different  systems  of  administra- 
tion of  justice,  sometimes  before  jury,  sometimes  before  a 
single  judge,  summary  without  appeal,  and  it  is  well  known 
that  the  chance  of  acquittal  or  conviction  is  very  different 
in  the  two  cases.  In  most  countries  we  have  both,  that  is, 
a jury  for  flagrant  crimes  and  offences,  and  pohce-courts 
for  lesser  misdemeanours,  but  the  separating  line  is  no- 
where drawn  at  exactly  the  same  place.  Again,  there 
is  not  only  a great  difference  in  the  severity  of  the  ad- 
ministration of  justice  by  the  courts,  but  there  is  also 
a great  difference  in  the  efficiency  of  the  police  system  for 
the  detection  of  crime  and  the  capture  of  the  criminal 
and  his  accomplices.  Still  again,  the  courts  and  the 
police  administration  give  us  different  data  which  we 
can  use.  Shall  we,  for  instance,  make  any  use  of  the 
number  of  suspected  persons,  the  criminal  classes,  as 
they  are  called  in  England,  or  the  persons  on  whom  the 
police  keep  an  eye,  — or  as  in  France,  the  persons  who 
are  obliged  to  report  themselves  to  the  police  at  stated 
intervals  ? This  surely  is  an  indication  of  the  criminality 
of  the  community,  but  of  how  much  value  is  it  ? 

And  even  in  case  of  those  brought  before  the  court, 
shall  we  take  into  account  all  who  are  accused,  or  only 
those  who  are  convicted?  And  in  case  of  those  con- 
victed, only  those  on  whom  the  full  penalty  is  inflicted  ? 
Shall  we  take  into  account  extenuating  circumstances 
when  they  appear  on  the  trial,  — as  the  recommendation 
of  a jury  to  mercy;  or  notice  the  severity  of  the  penalty, 
as  the  length  of  imprisonment  or  the  amount  of  a money 


CRIME, 


263 


fine  ? For  the  amount  of  criminality  indicated  is  evidently 
not  so  great  where  it  is  necessary  to  inflict  the  minimum 
punishment  in  the  discretion  of  the  court,  as  where  the 
maximum  is  inflicted. 

Finally,  the  official  statistics  themselves  of  such  cases  as 
come  before  the  court  are  not  altogether  satisfactory,  espe- 
cially where  we  try  to  get  at  the  motive  of  the  prisoner  and 
his  previous  condition.  Most  of  all,  the  statistics  are  lack- 
ing that  would  enable  us  to  trace  the  effect  of  the  penalty 
on  future  commission  of  crime,  and  it  is  surprising  that  the 
administration  does  not  investigate  the  subject  more  closely. 

The  sociological  purpose  of  this  chapter  is  to  deal  with 
these  statistics  in  a careful  way,  so  as  to  deduce  some  facts 
of  interest  to  the  social  welfare  of  the  community. 

Statistical  Data. 

Quetelet  was  the  first  to  investigate  closely  the  statis- 
tics of  crime,  and  he  discovered  in  the  French  criminal 
statistics  an  astonishing  regularity  which  led  him  to  write 
the  famous  sentence  so  often  repeated  : — There  is  a 
budget  which  is  paid  with  greater  regularity  than  that 
of  any  finance  minister,  — it  is  the  budget  of  the  prison, 
the  galleys,  and  the  scaffold. 

Later  investigations  over  wider  areas  and  greater 
lengths  of  time  have  confirmed  to  a certain  extent  the 
observation  of  Quetelet,  but  they  also  show  very  con- 
siderable variations.  For  the  reasons  mentioned  in  the 
introduction  it  is  impossible  to  present  an  international 
comparison  of  the  prevalence  of  criminality  in  all  coun- 
tries. It  will  be  necessary  to  study  each  country  by  itself. 

In  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  the  number  of  criminal 
offenders  convicted  was  as  follows  : 


England 

and  Wales.  Scotland.  Ireland, 

1871  11,946  2,184  2,257 

1881  11,353  1,832  2,698 

1891  9,055  1,823  1,256 

1892  .......  9,607  1,778  1,196 


264 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


Serious  crime  seems  to  be  on  the  decrease,  both  abso- 
lutely, and  still  more  so,  relatively  to  the  population.  In 
1871,  the  proportion  for  the  United  Kingdom  was  522  per 
1,000,000  inhabitants ; in  1891,  it  was  only  332. 

Besides  these  serious  offenders  there  were  in  England 
and  Wales  in  1890-91  no  less  than  602,573  persons  sum- 
marily convicted,  most  of  them  for  trifling  offences,  such 
as  drunkenness,  vagrancy,  offences  against  the  elementary 
education  act,  simple  larceny,  common  assault,  etc.  There 
was  a net  increase  of  18  per  cent  in  five  years  in  this  class 
of  offences.  In  Scotland  the  total  number  of  persons 
convicted  in  1891  was  104,793,  equal  to  26,031  for  each 
million  inhabitants,  contrasted  with  22,454  per  million 
in  England  and  Wales.  In  Ireland  there  were  197,976 
persons  convicted  summarily,  making  a rate  of  42,565 
criminals  convicted  for  each  million  of  the  population.^ 

In  France  we  have  criminal  statistics  reaching  back  to 
1825.  It  would  seem  as  if  from  this  long  period  we  might 
be  able  to  judge  whether  crime  was  on  the  increase  or 
decrease.  Making  the  distinction  between  crimes,  that 
is,  serious  offences  which  are  tried  before  juries,  and  the 
lighter  misdemeanours  which  are  tried  before  simple  jus- 
tices, we  have  the  following  proportions  for  successive 
decennial  periods  of  persons  accused  per  1,000,000 
inhabitants : ^ 


Crimes  against 

C Z Together.  Misdemeanours.  Total. 

Person.  Property. 


1830-39  67  161  228  2,081  2, .309 

1840-49  64  147  211  2,983  3,190 

1850-59  64  117  181  4,241  4,420 

1860-69  51  69  120  3,869  3,980 

1870-79  51  76  127  4,316  4,443 

1887  43  70  113  5,970  6,083 


1 Figures  are  from  the  Judicial  Statistics  of  the  three  countries.  See  also 
Statistical  Abstract  for  the  United  Kingdom. 

2 Zeitschrift  des  Preuss.  Bureaus,  1882,  p.  XLVI. 


CRIME. 


265 


Serious  crimes  seem  to  have  decreased,  while  the  lighter 
ones  have  increased.  The  number  convicted  before  juries 
’nras : — in  1883,  3497;  1887,  3099.  The  number  con- 
victed before  the  correctional  tribunals  was  : — in  1883, 
197,396 ; in  1888,  215,993.  Besides  these  there  were 
429,988  persons  (in  1888)  convicted  before  the  police 
courts.  These  last,  of  course,  were  for  trifling  offences, 
but  altogether  there  were  649,015  persons  punished  for 
law-breaking,  nearly  17,000  for  each  million  inhabitants. ^ 
The  German  criminal  statistics  begin  with  1882  and 
show  the  following  number  of  criminals  convicted : ^ 


Crimes  against  the  state, 

1882. 

public 

1892. 

Increase,  1882  to 
1892,  per  cent. 

order,  and  religion  . . 

. . . 51,623 

66,392 

28.6 

Crimes  against  the  person  . 

. . . 107,398 

157,928 

47. 

Crimes  against  property  . 

. . . 169,3.34 

196,437 

16. 

Crimes  in  office  .... 

. , . 1,613 

1,570 

Total 

. . . 329,968 

422,327 

28. 

Since  1882  there  has  been  a large  increase  of  crimes, 
especially  against  public  order  and  against  the  person. 
Population  increased  about  12  per  cent  during  the  period, 
but  even  allowing  for  that,  crime  increased  nearly  15  per 
cent.  In  1892  there  were  1198  convictions  for  every 
100,000  of  the  population  over  12  years  of  age,  against 
1,043  in  1882.  These  proportions  must  not  be  contrasted 
with  those  for  Great  Britain  and  France,  both  because  the 
basis  is  different  and  because  they  include  only  crimes 
according  to  the  imperial  code  and  do  not  comprise  the 
petty  offences  coming  before  the  local  courts. 

We  shall  not  follow  out  the  criminal  statistics  of  other 
countries  in  detail.  The  latest  figures  show  an  increase 
of  crime  in  almost  all  countries,  especially  in  the  lighter 
crimes.  One  reason  for  this  is  the  greater  activity  of  the 
police  and  courts  ; a second  is  the  increase  of  the  regula- 

lAllg.  Stat.  Archiv,  III.,  381. 

^Stat.  .Tahrbuch  des  Deutsclien  Reiclis,  1894. 


266 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


tive  activity  of  the  state  creating  new  misdemeanours  and 
offences  of  a petty  character.  Whether  criminality  has 
actually  increased  Avill  be  discussed  later  in  connection 
with  the  different  kinds  of  crime. 

The  Kind  of  Crime.  The  classification  of  crimes  varies 
according  to  the  criminal  law  of  each  country.  As  already 
said,  when  we  come  to  specific  names  the  same  name  does 
not  cover  the  same  category  of  deeds  in  one  country  that 
it  does  in  another.  For  international  comparison  we  must 
adopt  a very  general  classification  in  order  to  reach  any 
conclusions.  The  most  common  division  is  that  of  crimes 
against  the  person,  and  crimes  against  property.  There 
is  evidently  a marked  difi^erence  between  these  two  acts. 
Crimes  against  the  person  are  generally  the  influence  of 
passion,  bad  temper,  or  sudden  excitement.  They  are 
as  a rule  accompanied  by  violence.  Crimes  against  prop- 
erty are  due  most  often  to  economic  condition,  and  may 
in  fact  simply  represent  economic  distress.  They  show 
a different  disposition  or  condition  of  mind  from  crimes 
against  the  person.  There  is  a middle  category  of  crimes 
against  property  accompanied  by  violence  against  the  per- 
son, such  as  highway  robbery,  and  burglary  followed  by 
murder.  There  is  also  malicious  destruction  of  property, 
where  the  motive  is  not  economic  acquisitiveness,  but  a 
desire  to  injui'e  the  owner  of  the  property.  It  is  diffi- 
cult to  classify  these  middle  cases. 

The  proportion  of  crimes  against  the  person  and  crimes 
against  property  varies  from  country  to  country  and  from 
time  to  time.  The  proportion  varies  also  according  as 
we  take  the  whole  mass  of  crimes  and  misdemeanours  or 
only  those  which  are  considered  more  serious.  As  the 
dividing  line  between  the  more  serious  crimes  and  the 
less  serious  misdemeanours  is  not  the  same  in  different 
countries,  international  comparison  is  impossible.  Exam- 
ples will  be  given  from  the  different  countries  which  will 
serve  as  illustrations. 


CKIME. 


267 


In  England  and  Wales  we  have  the  following  classifica- 
tion of  the  more  serious  crimes  which  come  under  the 
term  indictable  offences  : ^ 


1879-80.  1890-91. 


Cmmes  against 

Number. 

Per  Cent. 

Number. 

Per  Cent. 

Property  without  violence  . 

. 39,276 

75. 

25,086 

67.3 

Property  with  violence  . . 

. 6,782 

13. 

5,938 

16. 

Property,  malicious  . . . 

607 

1.1 

513 

1.4 

The  person 

. 2,855 

5.4 

3,352 

9. 

Forgery  and  counterfeiting . 

. 1,109 

2.1 

446 

1.2 

Not  included  in  above  . . 

. 1,798 

3.4 

1,917 

5.1 

52,427 

100.00 

37,252 

100.0 

The  characteristic  thing  in  this  classification  is  the 
small  number  of  crimes  against  the  person,  although  the 
proportion  has  increased  since  1880. 

In  Scotland  the  number  of  criminals  convicted  of  of- 
fences against  the  person  appears  to  be  much  larger  pro- 
portionately than  in  England,  constituting  30  per  cent  of 
the  total,  while  those  against  property  without  violence 
constitute  42  per  cent,  and  those  against  property  with 
violence,  20  per  cent.^ 

In  Ireland,  owing  to  the  agrarian  agitation,  there  has 
been  an  abnormal  number  of  crimes  against  the  person 
under  the  head  of  intimidation,  and  of  malicious  offences 
against  property.  In  1880,  for  instance,  over  20  per  cent 
of  the  jury  trials  were  concerned  with  the  former  offence, 
and  nearly  15  per  cent  with  the  latter.  In  1891,  the 
malicious  crimes  against  property  constituted  14  per  cent 
of  the  whole,  those  against  the  person  19.2  per  cent, 
against  property  with  violence  5.6  per  cent,  and  those 
against  property  without  violence  50  per  cent.^ 

In  France  the  proportion  of  crimes  against  the  person 
(46  per  cent  in  1890)  is  very  much  larger  than  in  any 
of  the  countries  above  mentioned. 

1 Judicial  Statistics,  England,  1891.  ^Ibid.,  Scotland,  1891. 

® Ibid,  for  Ireland,  1891. 


268 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


In  Germany  the  figures  for  crime  apply  to  misde- 
meanours as  well  as  to  serious  crimes,  so  that  comparison 
with  the  above  countries  is  not  possible.  Of  the  total 
number  of  crimes  and  misdemeanours  in  1890,  38.8  per 
cent  were  crimes  committed  against  the  person. 

In  the  United  States  we  have  a classification  of  the 
crimes  committed  by  the  persons  enumerated  as  prisoners, 
in  the  census  of  1890,  as  follows : ^ 


Percentage. 

Ofiences  against  the  government  . . 1,839  2.2 

Offences  against  society 18,865  22.9 

Offences  against  the  person . . . . 17,281  21.0 

Offences  against  property  ....  37,707  45.8 

Miscellaneous 6,637  8.1 

Total 82,329  100.0 


These  statistics  must  not  be  compared  with  those  of 
other  countries  given,  because  they  are  on  the  basis  of 
prisoners,  which  may  include  crimes  committed  during 
several  years,  while  the  others  are  on  the  basis  of  the 
crimes  committed  during  a single  year.  Under  the  head 
of  offences  against  society  also  are  included  some  crimes 
which  in  other  countries  are  considered  to  be  crimes 
against  the  person. 

Particular  Crimes.  When  we  come  to  analyze  still 
further  the  kinds  of  crime,  we  reach  a great  variety  of 
classifications  and  minute  subdivisions  which  make  com- 
parison entirely  fruitless.  For  instance,  the  principal 
indictable  offences  in  England  and  W ales  for  two  periods, 
were  classified  as  follows  : ^ 

18S5-S6.  1S90-91. 


Murder 136  148 

Attempts  to  murder 49  64 

Shooting  at,  wounding,  etc 652  789 

Manslaughter 269  147 

Concealment  of  birth 90  92 

Unnatural  offences 156  159 


1 Comp,  of  Eleventh  Census,  Part  II.,  p.  192. 

2 Judicial  Statistics,  England  and  Wales,  1885  and  1891. 


CKIME. 


269 


1885-86. 

1890-91. 

Rape 

290 

232 

Defilement  of  girls  under  13  years 

of  age 

128 

Defilement  of  girls  between  13  and 

16  years  of  age 

136 

Assaults  with  intent 

569 

769 

Assaults 

633 

454 

Burglary  and  housebreaking  . . 

3,169 

3,418 

Breaking  into  shops 

2,302 

2,047 

Robbery  and  attempts  with  vio- 

lence 

373 

347 

Cattle,  horse,  and  sheep  stealing 

509 

376 

Larcenies,  etc 

27,797 

22,367 

Total  indictable  offences  . . 

43,962 

37,252 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  table,  that  more  than  one-half 
of  the  indictable  offences  in  England  consists  of  larcenies. 
Attempts  to  murder  and  offences  against  morality  are 
sufficiently  numerous,  but  comprise  only  a small  percent- 
age when  compared  with  the  crimes  against  property. 
The  crimes  against  morality  show  an  alarming  increase. 

In  the  serious  crimes  in  France  there  is  included  a 
much  larger  number  of  crimes  against  the  person,  as  has 
already  been  shown.  And  among  these,  crimes  against 
morality  are  especially  frequent.  Out  of  the  4307  persons 
tried  before  juries  in  1887  on  account  of  serious  crimes,  the 
principal  accusations  were: — larcenies,  1439;  burglary, 
robbery,  and  arson,  524  ; murder,  manslaughter,  infanticide, 
and  fatal  assault,  779;  abortion  and  rape,  726;  counter- 
feiting, forgery,  and  embezzlement,  570. 

In  the  United  States  we  have  only  the  statistics  of  the 
crimes  committed  by  the  82,329  persons  in  prison  in  1890. 
The  principal  were  larceny,  burglary,  assault,  homicide, 
and  disorderly  conduct. 

Influences  on  Crime.  It  has  long  been  a commonplace  of 
ethics,  that  the  commission  of  crime  depends  more  or  less 
upon  the  physical  and  social  environment  of  the  criminal. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  social  environment  has  a great 


270 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


deal  to  do  with  the  continuance  of  the  criminal  class,  as 
one  can  hardly  expect  a child  brought  up  among  crim- 
inals and  jDrostitutes  to  be  right-minded,  lawful,  or  moral. 
Many  sociologists  have  sought  still  further  to  connect 
crime  with  the  physiological  characteristics  of  the  crim- 
inal, and  hence  look  upon  it  simply  as  an  infirmity  or  a 
disease.  Other  sociologists  have  gone  further  yet,  and 
tried  to  connect  the  manifestations  of  crime  with  the 
physical  environment,  such  as  climate,  and  season,  or  with 
social  characteristics,  such  as  race,  religion,  density  of 
population,  domicile,  etc.,  and  thus  to  make  it  a mani- 
festation of  social  disease  or  infirmity.  This  last  attempt 
has  not  as  yet  attained  any  very  precise  results.  Some 
interesting  deductions  have  been  indicated  as  follows  : 
Influence  of  Climate  and  G-eographical  Position.  It  is 
an  old  observation  that  crimes  against  the  person  are 
more  numerous  in  southern  climates  than  crimes  against 
property,  and  vice  versd.  Guerry  observed  this  in  France 
as  far  back  as  1826-30.  Dividing  France  into  three 
zones,  he  found  the  following  proportions  for  each  class 
of  crimes: 

Crimes  against  Crimes  against 
the  Person.  Property. 

Northern  zone 2.7  4.9 

Middle  zone 2.8  2.34 

Southern  zone 4.96  2.32 

It  will  be  observed  that  these  proportions  are  almost 
directly  inverse.  These  old  observations  of  Guerry  have 
been  confirmed  in  a general  way  by  the  later  statistics. 
In  1882,  it  was  said  that  crimes  against  the  person  were 
especially  prominent  in  Corsica  and  the  Eastern  Pyrenees  ; 
in  the  low  and  high  Alps,  in  Savoy,  in  I’Aveyon  and  La 
Lozere,  crimes  against  property  and  against  the  person 
were  equal  in  number  ; m the  other  departments  crimes 
against  property  were  in  excess.  Corsica  and  Paris  fur- 
nish 20  per  cent  of  all  the  attempts  on  person  or  life,  but 
while  in  Paris  there  was  one  such  attempt  for  100,000 


CEIME. 


271 


persons,  in  Corsica  there  was  one  for  every  13  inhabi- 
tants.^ 

In  Italy  there  is  a general  geographical  distribution  cor- 
responding to  the  above.  Homicide  and  injuries  to  the 
person  are  most  frequent  in  the  province  of  Rome,  in 
Sicily,  in  Calabria,  and  certain  other  provinces  of  the 
south.  In  these  same  provinces  crimes  against  morality 
are  more  frequent  than  in  the  centre  and  the  north.  In 
simple  larcenies  the  heaviest  number  is  found  about  Rome 
and  in  Sardinia,  but  otherwise  the  northern  provinces  are 
more  heavily  represented  than  the  southern. ^ 

In  other  countries  we  do  not  get  distinct  indications  of 
the  influence  of  climate  on  the  commission  of  crime.  In 
Germany  crime  seems  to  be  more  frequent  in  the  east  than 
in  the  west.  In  the  eastern  provinces  of  Prussia  crimes 
against  the  person,  as  well  as  the  grosser  crimes  against 
property,  are  very  frequent,  while  the  finer  crimes  against 
property,  such  as  embezzlement,  are  more  frequent  in  the 
west  and  south.  The  reason  for  this  distribution  is  not 
explained.  It  is  apparent,  however,  that  effect  of  climate 
and  geographical  position  might  be  easily  obscured  by  the 
influence  of  economic  and  social  conditions.^ 

Influence  of  the  Seasons.  It  is  pretty  well  determined 
that  crimes  against  the  person  are  more  numerous  in  sum- 
mer than  in  winter ; that  crimes  against  property  are 
more  numerous  in  winter  than  in  summer.  Various 
reasons  for  this  have  been  given.  That  such  crimes 
against  property  as  larceny  should  be  more  frequent  in 
winter  than  in  summer  may,  perhaps,  be  explained  by  the 
greater  pressure  of  economic  wants  in  the  cold  season. 
But  it  is  not  easy  to  explain  why  crimes  against  the  per- 

1 Zeitschrift  des  Preuss.  Stat.  Bureaus,  1882,  S.  C.  XL VI. 

2 Bodio,  Communication  sur  1’ organisation  de  la  statistique  penale  en 
Italie. 

8 Von  Scheel,  Zur  Einfiilirung  in  die  Kriminalstatistik,  Allg.  Stat 
Archiv,  I.,  p.  205. 


2T2 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


son,  and  especially  those  against  morality,  such  as  rape, 
should  be  more  frequent  in  slimmer  than  in  winter.  Some 
authors  ascribe  it  to  the  influence  of  the  season,  others  to 
the  greater  opportunity,  owing  to  the  out-door  life  of  the 
agricultural  population.^ 

City  and  Country.  There  is  generally  more  crime  in 
the  city  than  in  the  country,  and  the  reason,  of  course,  is 
that  the  city  is  often  the  place  of  refuge  for  country 
criminals.  In  France,  while  in  the  cities  there  was  one 
accused  (of  crimes  or  misdemeanours)  to  6007  inhabitants, 
in  the  country  districts  there  was  one  accused  to  12,787 
inhabitants.  Of  the  persons  tried  before  juries  in  1890, 
13  per  cent  had  no  permanent  residence,  43  per  cent  lived 
in  the  country,  and  44  per  cent  in  towns  of  2000  inhabi- 
tants and  over.  The  rural  population  is  twice  as  numer- 
ous as  the  urban.  In  England,  on  the  other  hand,  we 
have  some  statistics  which  go  to  show  that,  owing  to  police 
control,  the  number  of  criminals  compared  with  the  total 
population  is  less  in  the  large  cities  than  in  the  counties. 
The  police  keep  a record  of  known  thieves  and  depre- 
dators, of  receivers  of  stolen  goods,  and  of  suspected  per- 
sons. The  distribution  of  these  persons  in  1890-91  was : 
in  counties,  1.20  per  1000  of  the  population ; in  boroughs, 
1.20  ; and  in  London,  0.41  per  1000  of  the  population. ^ 

When  we  consider  particular  crimes,  we  find  great  vari- 
ations between  city  and  country,  winch,  however,  can- 
not be  reduced  to  any  law  applicable  to  all  countries. 
London,  for  instance,  shows  the  largest  number  of  larce- 
nies ; in  murder,  Derby  shows  the  highest  percentage, 
while  London  holds  only  a medium  place  ; in  rape,  Ches- 
ter, Monmouth,  Stafford,  and  Southampton  lead,  while 
London  stands  only  twentieth.  Paris  is  the  heaviest  of 
all  the  departments  in  F ranee  in  thefts  and  crimes  against 
property  ; but  it  is  very  light  in  arson  and  rape  compared 

1 Allg.  Stat.  Archiv,  Vol.  II.,  p.  49. 

2 Judicial  Statistics,  1891,  England  and  Wales,  p.  x. 


CRIME. 


273 


with  some  of  the  country  departments ; and  in  regard  to 
murder  Paris  stands  fifteenth  below  Corsica.  Crimes 
against  morality  are  common  in  France  in  the  industrial 
departments,  where  drunkenness  is  also  most  common, 
while  in  the  agricultural  departments  they  are  less  fre- 
quent. Infanticide,  on  the  other  hand,  is  more  common 
in  the  country  than  in  the  cities,  owing  probably  to  the 
absence  of  foundling  asylums. 

Creneral  Social  Influences  on  Crime.  The  influence  of 
race  or  nationality  is  difficult  to  discern  in  the  statistics 
of  crime,  because  of  the  difficulties  of  international  com- 
parison. In  the  United  States  we  can  compare  the  num- 
ber of  prisoners  and  convicts  of  foreign  birth  with  those 
of  native  birth.  Care  must  be  taken  to  consider  the 
greater  proportion  of  adults  among  the  foreign-born. 
Even  then,  the  amount  of  criminality  may  be  due  to  the 
strange  environment  in  which  these  foreigners  find  them- 
selves, rather  than  to  any  influence  of  nationality.  Taking 
into  account  the  birth-place  of  the  parents  of  prisoners, 
the  census  attributes  43  per  cent  of  the  crimes  committed 
by  white  persons  to  the  native  white  element,  and  57  per 
cent  to  the  foreign  element.  Among  the  native-born 
whites  there  were  882.45  prisoners  per  4,000,000 ; while 
among  the  foreign-born  whites  there  were  1,822.43  prisoners 
per  4,000,000.  Among  the  native  whites  of  native  parents 
there  were  753.7  prisoners  per  4,000,000;  while  among 
the  foreign-born  and  those  of  foreign  parentage  together, 
there  were  1523.06  prisoners  per  4,000,000.  On  the  other 
hand,  while  the  foreign-born  male  prisoners  were  26.2  per 
cent  of  the  total  number  of  male  prisoners,  the  foreign- 
born  males  18  years  of  age  and  over  were  26.38  per  cent 
of  the  total  number  of  males  18  years  of  age  and  over, — 
almost  exactly  the  same  percentage.  The  foreign-born 
seem  more  inclined  to  offences  against  society  and  against 
the  person  than  either  the  native  whites  or  the  coloured ; 
but  this  is  to  be  attributed  probably  to  the  number  of 


274 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


adults  among  them.  Among  the  coloured  48  per  cent 
were  detained  on  account  of  offences  against  property,  and 
among  the  native  whites  of  native  parentage  50  per  cent ; 
while  among  the  foreign-born  whites  only  35  per  cent  were 
in  prison  for  such  offencesd 

Influence  of  Religious  Confession.  There  is  nothing  yet 
very  decisive  in  this  direction  because  the  influence  of 
religious  confession  is  obscured  by  other  conditions.  In 
Germany,  for  instance,  there  is  generally  less  criminality 
among  Protestants  than  among  Catholics,  if  you  take  the 
whole  empire.  This  is  explained  by  the  fact  that  in  North 
and  Middle  Germany,  where  the  Protestant  religion  is 
prevalent,  the  inhabitants  have  a quieter  temperament 
and  are  also  better  off  economically.  In  those  sections 
the  Catholic  population  also  has  a smaller  criminality 
than  in  other  parts.  In  regard  to  the  difference  be- 
tween Christians  and  Jews,  the  German  statistics  seem 
to  show  that  in  general  the  Jews  have  less  criminality 
than  the  Cluistians ; but  in  certain  crimes,  such  as  per- 
jury, forgery,  fraudulent  bankruptcy,  and  slander,  the 
Jews  surpass  the  Christians.  In  these  cases  it  is  possible 
that  the  difference  in  religion  and  the  corresponding  dif- 
ference in  race  may  be  the  cause,  but  we  must  remember 
that  occupation  exerts  a great  influence,  and  that  the  J ews, 
being  devoted  to  commerce  and  finance,  have  special  op- 
portunity and  temptation  to  commit  the  above  crimes. 
Comparisons  between  Christian  and  Jew  would,  there- 
fore, not  be  fair  unless  we  took  the  relative  number  in 
each  occupation,  which  would  require  very  minute  inves- 
tigation and  lead  to  uncertain  residts.^ 

Influence  of  Social  Position.  Crime  is  more  frequent 
among  the  lower  classes  than  among  the  upper.  And  the 
criminals  of  each  year  are  recruited  largely  from  the  crim- 
inal classes.  Of  the  persons  in  England,  in  1890-91,  appre- 

1 Compendium  of  the  Eleventh  Census,  Part  II.,  pp.  169,  177,  192. 

2 Allg.  Stat.  Archiv,  Vol.  I.,  p.  201. 


CRIME. 


275 


tended  for  indictable  offences  or  proceeded  against  sum- 
marily, those  of  previous  good  character  were  51  per  cent 
of  the  whole  number,  those  known  as  thieves  or  otherwise 
of  bad  character  were  17.5  per  cent,  and  those  of  charac- 
ter unknown  31.5  per  cent.^  It  is  commonly  said  in 
criminology  that  crime  is  hereditary  and  descends  from 
generation  to  generation.  It  is  often  impossible,  however, 
to  trace  out  the  birth  of  criminals,  and  even  if  we  show 
that  there  is  a larger  amount  of  criminality  among  the 
poor  and  degraded,  that  is  only  what  might  be  expected. 

Occupation  and  Profession.  It  is  doubtless  true  that 
the  kind  of  occupation  exercises  a considerable  influence 
upon  the  commission  of  crime  and  the  kind  of  crime.  In 
Germany  they  have  a very  elaborate  classification  of  this 
sort,  both  for  crime  in  general  and  for  the  different  par- 
ticular crimes.  The  chief  categories  are  seen  in  the 
following  table : ^ 

Number  per  100,000  Persons  op  Criminal  Age  condemned  for 
Crimes  against 


In 

The  state. 

The 

Person. 

Property. 

Total. 

Agriculture 

78.4 

302.5 

335.2 

717.3 

Industry 

. 201.7 

571.1 

547.8 

1322.4 

Trade  and  commerce  . 

. 294.1 

550.6 

621.9 

1480.0 

Domestic  service  . . . 

11.2 

37.2 

259.0 

307.8 

Other  and  no  occupation 

. 667.8 

706.3 

1080.7 

2476.0 

This  general  classification  shows  extraordinary  differ- 
ences between  the  different  classes.  The  most  favourable 
relations  are  found  among  the  domestic  servants,  the  next 
in  agriculture,  the  next  in  industry,  then  trade  and  com- 
merce, and  finally,  those  with  other  occupation  or  no 
occupation.  The  numbers  for  these  five  classes  stand 
in  the  relation  of  1 : 2 : 4 : 5 : 8. 

This  grouping  by  general  occupation  is  a very  rough 
one,  and  economic  and  social  condition  probably  have 

1 Judicial  Statistics,  England  and  Wales,  1891. 

^^Allg.  Stat.  ArcMv,  Vol.  III.,  p.  368. 


276 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


more  influence  than  occupation  upon  criminality.  If 
we  take  the  particular  crimes  we  find  a little  closer  in- 
dication of  the  influence  of  occupation.  Simple  larceny 
is  heavily  represented  in  all  the  classes,  especially  in  the 
fifth,  persons  of  miscellaneous  or  no  occupation,  which 
includes  day  labourers,  tramps,  and  persons  without 
settled  position.  The  proportion  is  593.2  per  100,000  in 
this  class,  while  in  agriculture  it  is  only  175.4.  Dan- 
gerous injury  to  the  person  is  very  rare  among  domestic 
servants,  but  is  heavily  represented  among  persons  engaged 
in  industry.  Embezzlement  and  fraud  are,  of  course, 
heaviest  in  commerce  and  trade,  while  malicious  injury 
to  property  is  frequent  in  the  industrial  occupations. 

In  order  to  follow  out  the  statistics  closely,  it  would  be 
necessary  to  consider  the  particular  occupation,  and  also 
the  age  and  sex  classification.  In  the  case  of  dangerous 
assaults,  for  instance,  agricultural  labourers  and  emplo3’ees 
in  industry,  mining,  and  building  trades  are  much  more 
numerously  represented  in  proportion  to  their  number 
than  farmers  or  landlords,  or  employers  of  labour ; and 
this  is  especially  true  of  the  industrial  compared  with  the 
agricultural  laboiu-ers.^  The  reason  for  this  dispropor- 
tion is  evident  when  one  remembers  that  among  the 
employees  in  these  trades  there  is  a great  number  of 
men,  and  especially  of  young  men  who  are  inclined  to 
violence.  The  employers  are  older  men  ; and  among  the 
agricultural  labourers  are  included  many  women.  It  thus 
appears  that  often  it  is  not  the  occupation  so  much  as  the 
kind  of  persons  attracted  into  the  occupation  which  deter- 
mines the  amount  of  crime. 

Illiteracy  and  Crime.  Large  numbers  of  the  criminals 
are  illiterate.  In  England,  of  those  committed  to  prison 
in  1891-92,  22.8  per  cent  could  neither  read  nor  write  ; 74.2 
per  cent  could  read,  or  read  and  write  imperfectly;  2.9 
per  cent  could  read  and  write  well.  In  Austria,  40  per 
lAllg.  Stat.  Archiv,  Yol.  I.,  p.  207. 


CRIME. 


277 


cent  of  those  condemned  for  serious  crimes  and  50.3  per 
cent  of  those  condemned  for  misdemeanours  were  illiterate. 
In  Hungary  the  proportion  was  52.9  per  cent ; in  France, 
21  per  cent. 

Influence  of  Economic  Condition^  Scarcity  of  Food,  and 
War.  Hard  times  increase  the  number  of  crimes,  espe- 
cially of  crimes  against  property.  A general  rule  has 
been  laid  down  that  as  the  price  of  food  increases,  crimes 
against  property  increase,  while  crimes  against  the  person 
decrease.  The  immediate  influence  of  war  seems  to  be 
restraining  on  crime.  This  is  probably  due  to  the  removal 
of  men  of  criminal  age.  In  Prussia  it  has  been  shown 
that  during  war  the  number  of  all  the  more  serious  crimes 
decreases,  while  the  effect  upon  the  lighter  misdemean- 
ours, such  as  stealing  wood  in  the  forest,  is  insignificant. 
In  Germany  an  advance  in  the  price  of  rye-meal  and 
potatoes  is  followed  by  an  increased  number  of  crimes 
against  property,  especially  simple  larceny,  the  succeeding 
year.i 

Individual  Biological  Influence.  Sex,  age,  and  conjugal 
condition  have  a marked  influence  upon  criminality. 
There  are  always  more  males  among  the  criminals  than 
females.  In  Germany  (1885-90)  there  were  21  female 
criminals  for  every  100  male.  But  the  proportion  differs 
for  different  crimes.  For  crimes  against  public  order  the 
proportion  is  only  9.1  per  cent ; for  crimes  against  the 
person,  15.9  per  cent;  while  for  crimes  against  property 
it  is  27.8  per  cent.  The  large  proportion  in  larceny  (37.8 
per  cent)  is  doubtless  due  to  the  economic  condition  of 
women  left  without  means  of  support.  The  proportion  of 
women  convicted  of  concealment  of  stolen  goods  is  always 
very  large,  in  Germany  being  62.7  per  cent  of  the  number 
of  males. ^ In  England  it  was  found  that  the  proportionate 

1 See  Conrad’s  Jahrbucher  fur  Nationaloekonomie  und  Statistik,  1894, 
p.  719. 

^Allg.  Stat.  Archiv,  Vol.  III.,  p.  367. 


278 


STATISTICS  Airo  SOCIOLOGY. 


number  of  women  criminals  is  mucb  greater  in  the  cities 
than  in  the  country,  and  tbe  same  observation  has  been 
made  elsewhere.  In  the  United  States  the  women  pris- 
oners were  6405  compared  with  75,924  men,  or  8.7  females 
to  100  males.  The  proportions  differed  widely  for  differ- 
ent crimes,  the  women  being  much  less  numerously  repre- 
sented in  homicide,  assaults,  larceny,  embezzlement,  fraud, 
forgery,  etc.,  and  more  numerously  represented  in  disor- 
derly conduct,  receiving  stolen  goods,  and  offences  against 
public  morality.  ^ 

Age,  of  course,  has  powerful  influence  on  criminality. 
Crime  is  most  frequent  at  the  age  of  20  to  30,  and  next 
to  that  at  the  age  of  30  to  40.  In  Germany  we  have  the 
following  number  of  persons  condemned  per  100,000 
persons  of  the  same  age  : ^ 

Fob  Cbimbs. 


Against  the 

Against  the 

Against 

All 

Public  Peace. 

Person. 

Property. 

Crimes. 

From  12  to  under  18  years 

. 23.0 

145.3 

536.6 

705.4 

From  18  to  under  21  years 

. 273.9 

169.6 

89.6 

534.9 

From  21  to  under  40  years 

. 210.0 

650.5 

626.3 

1493.0 

From  40  to  under  60  years 

. 121.2 

372.7 

351.6 

850.7 

Over  60  years 

. 32.0 

116.0 

109.4 

259.5 

The  criminal  age  is  seen  to  be  that  between  21  and  40 
years.  Among  children  from  12  to  18  years  of  age  crimes 
against  property  are  especially  numerous,  because  children 
are  employed  in  petty  thieving.  During  the  period  from 
18  to  21  crimes  against  the  person  are  in  excess  of  those 
against  property,  because  that  is  the  age  of  passion  and 
violence.  At  the  same  age  period  crimes  against  the 
public  peace  are  also  especially  numerous. 

Conjugal  Condition  and  Criminality.  Taking  all  ages 
and  both  sexes,  there  is  greater  criminality  among  the 
widowed  and  divorced  than  among  the  married  and 
single.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  it  is  not  widow- 

^Comp.  U.S.  Census,  II. , pp.  193-4. 

^Allg.  Stat.  Archiv,  III.,  p.  367. 


CEIME. 


279 


hood  or  divorce  that  increases  crime,  but  that  among 
those  classes  of  the  population  who  are  driven  to  crime  by 
want,  the  dissolution  of  marriage  by  death  or  divorce  is 
especially  frequent,  and  hence  there  is  a relatively  large 
number  of  criminals  among  the  widowed  and  the  divorced. 
In  general  the  majority  of  the  criminals  are  unmarried, 
as  for  instance,  in  France,  59  per  cent  were  unmarried. 
In  Prussia,  on  the  other  hand,  the  number  of  married  and 
unmarried  men  convicted  of  serious  crimes  was  almost 
the  same.  There  are  frequent  variations  in  these  sta- 
tistics. Von  Scheel  says  that  from  the  German  statis- 
tics it  appears  that  the  married  women  from  about  30 
years  of  age  on  are  more  criminal  than  the  single  women 
of  corresponding  age.  Why  should  this  be  so  ? Perhaps 
they  steal  for  the  family.  Also  among  the  younger  mar- 
ried men,  under  25  years,  there  is  a higher  criminality  than 
for  the  single  men  of  that  age.  Perhaps  this  is  because 
men  who  marry  so  young  are  also  inclined  to  other 
thoughtless  acts.^ 

Motives  for  Grime.  It  is  very  difficult  to  assign  any 
definite  psychological  motive  for  the  criminal  act,  because 
it  is  rarely  confessed  by  the  criminal  and  is  often  pur- 
posely concealed  by  the  defence.  In  France  the  follow- 
ing motives  were  assigned  for  murder  and  homicide  : 


Covetousness  . . . 

Murder. 
Per  Cent, 

...  25 

Homicide. 
Per  Cent. 

14 

Adultery 

2 

Quarrels 

21 

Unhappy  love  . . . 

2 

Dissipation  . . . . 

7 

Eevenge  

20 

Other  causes  . . . 

...  12 

34 

In  the  case  of  arson  the  motives  assigned  were,  in  19 
per  cent  of  the  cases,  plunder  ; in  19  per  cent,  acts  of 
hostile  neighbours  ; in  14  per  cent,  acts  of  discharged 

^ Allg.  Stat.  Archiv,  I. , p.  202. 


280 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


servants ; in  10  per  cent,  family  quarrels  ; in  7 per  cent, 
by  escaped  prisoners  ; and  in  10  per  cent,  by  intoxicated 
persons. 

Penalties.  It  is  a matter  of  great  interest  to  classify 
the  penalties  inflicted,  and  especially  to  study  the  effect 
of  these  penalties  in  preventing  the  repetition  of  the 
offence.  It  is  not  easy  to  classify  the  penalties,  because 
the  percentages  vary  according  as  we  take  account  of  the 
serious  crimes  only,  or  of  all  crimes  and  misdemeanours. 
In  England,  in  1891,  the  number  of  persons  convicted  of 
serious  offences  suffered  the  following  penalties : ^ 

Number. 


Death 19 

Penal  servitude 751 

Imprisonment 7548 

Eeformatory  schools 59 

Pined,  etc 678 

Total 9055 


The  ordinary  punishment  even  for  serious  crimes  in 
England  is  imprisonment  for  from  one  month  to  one  year. 
If  we  take  the  less  serious  crimes  and  misdemeanours 
which  are  tried  summarily,  we  find  nearly  three-fourths  of 
them  punished  by  fines,  and  10  per  cent  by  imprisonment 
of  one  month  or  less. 

In  France  the  punishments  appear  more  serious,  but  it 
is  difficult  to  make  comparison  on  accomit  of  the  differ- 
ence in  classification  between  crimes  tried  before  juries 
and  those  subject  to  summary  jurisdiction.  Of  persons 
convicted  (1887)  of  serious  crimes,  47  per  cent  were 
sentenced  to  hard  labour  or  house  of  correction,  and  41 
per  cent  to  imprisonment  for  more  than  one  year  ; of 
those  convicted  by  summary  courts,  57  per  cent  were  sen- 
tenced to  imprisonment  for  less  than  one  year,  and  40 
per  cent  were  fined. ^ 

1 Judicial  Statistics,  England,  1891. 

2Allg.  Stat.  Archiv,  Vol.  III.,  p.  382. 


CKIME. 


281 


In  Germany,  taking  tke  whole  mass  of  crimes  and  mis- 
demeanours, we  have  the  following  percentages : 


Death. 0.02 

House  of  correction 2.9 

Prison 62.3 

2 and  more  years 0,7 

1 and  under  2 years 2.1 

3 and  imder  12  months 10.8 

Less  than  3 months 48.7 

Money  fines 32.7 

Other  punishment 2.1 


100.0 


Taking  the  whole  number  of  convicted  persons,  nearly 
one-third  were  punished  by  fine,  and  nearly  one-half  of 
the  total  number  by  imprisonment  for  less  than  three 
months,  two-thirds  of  these  being  imprisonment  for  less 
than  eight  days.  The  tendency  in  Germany  is  towards 
an  increase  of  the  number  of  cases  punished  by  fines,  and 
a decrease  of  the  cases  of  imprisonment,  especially  im- 
prisonment for  short  periods.  The  same  tendency  has 
been  observed  in  Austria.  In  fact,  imprisonment  for  a 
few  days  seems  to  have  little  or  no  restraining  effect 
on  criminals,  and  this  brings  us  to  one  of  the  most 
interesting,  but  at  the  same  time  most  discouraging  facts 
in  criminology,  namely,  the  repetition  of  crimes  by  the 
same  individual. 

Sabitual  Criminals.  A large  proportion  of  the  criminals 
who  are  convicted  are  found  to  have  been  committed  to 
prison  before.  In  England,  for  instance,  the  proportion 
of  the  re-committed  to  the  total  number  committed  (ex- 
clusive of  debtors  and  naval  and  military  offenders)  was 
in  1891-92,45.3  per  cent ; in  1890-91,  50.4  per  cent;  in 
1889-90,  50.1  per  cent;  in  1888-89,  48.6  percent;  and 
in  1887-88,  46.7  per  cent.  The  re-committed  males  were 
42.0  per  cent  of  the  total  number  of  males  committed  ; 
the  re-committed  females,  54.6  per  cent  of  the  total  number 
of  females  committed.  The  following  table  shows  the  num- 


282 


STATISTICS  A2JD  SOCIOLOGY. 


ber  of  times  these  habitual  offenders  had  been  previously 
committed : ^ 

Propoetion  Per  Cent,  1891-92. 


Males 

Females 

Males  and  Fe- 

to  Total 

to  Total 

males  to  Total 

Males. 

Females. 

Number. 

Once 

. . . 34.4 

18.0 

29.0 

Twice 

. . . 15.7 

10.8 

14.1 

Thrice 

7.8 

9.2  , 

Four  times 

. . . 6.8 

6.1 

6.6 

Five  times 

. . . 5.0 

4.7 

5.0 

Six  or  seven  times . . . 

. . . 7.5 

7.6 

7.5 

Eight  to  ten  times  . . . 

. . . 6.8 

8.3 

7.3  . 

Above  ten  times  . . . 

. . . 14.0 

36.7 

21.3 

Total  . . . 

. . . 100.0 

100.0 

100.0 

This  table  shoves  an  extraordinary  persistency  of  crimi- 
nality, especially  among  women.  It  is  to  be  observed,  how- 
ever, that  probably  the  greater  number  of  these  previous 
commitments  were  for  short  terms  of  imprisonment  or  com- 
mitments due  to  inability  to  pay  fines.  It  was  nevertheless 
found  that  in  1891-92  there  were  1401  re-committed  prison- 
ers who,  on  a previous  conviction,  had  been  sentenced  to 
transportation  or  penal  servitude.  This  constituted  2.0  per 
cent  of  the  total  number  of  the  re-committed  prisoners. 

In  Germany  32.8  per  cent  of  the  convicted  persons  in 
1890  had  been  punished  before  ; of  the  males  34.6  per  cent, 
and  of  the  females  24.1.  The  proportion  among  females 
is  less  than  among  males,  contrary  to  the  general  rule. 
Great  differences  are  noticeable  in  different  crimes,  as  is 
shown  in  the  following  table  : ^ 

Percentage  punished  before. 


Males. 

Females. 

Both  Sexes. 

Crimes  against  the  person  . . 

. . 31.4 

15.6 

29.1 

Crimes  against  property  . . 

. . 41.4 

29.2 

38.5 

Burglary 

. . 35.8 

15.5 

33.1 

Murder 

. . 53.1 

10.0 

46.6 

Homicide 

. . 52.0 

17.4 

45.6 

Simple  larceny 

. . 41.8 

29.5 

38.2 

Grand  larceny 

. . 52.2 

37.6 

50.4 

Fraud  

. . 51.2 

39.4 

48.9 

Forgery 

. . 39.5 

26.8 

37.3 

1 Judicial  Statistics,  England,  1892. 

2 Allg.  Stat, 

, Archiv, 

III.,  p.  369. 

CRIME. 


283 


These  figures  are  not  very  instructive  unless  we  know 
whether  the  conviction  is  for  the  same  crime  as  the  previ- 
ous conviction.  Figures  for  other  countries,  however,  con- 
firm the  notion  of  the  slight  effect  of  imprisonment  upon 
criminals.  In  France,  in  1888,  52  per  cent  of  those  con- 
victed before  juries  and  47  per  cent  of  those  convicted  for 
lighter  crimes  were  habitual  criminals.  In  1876,  out  of 
100  persons  discharged  from  prison,  among  males  40 
per  cent  were  again  convicted  within  two  years.  This 
number  had  remained  constant  for  four  years.  The  num- 
ber among  females  was  26  per  cent.  In  Germany  in 
1892,  out  of  those  who  had  previously  suffered  imprison- 
ment, 35  per  cent  had  committed  a new  crime  within  one 
year  from  the  previous  imprisonment.^ 

Scientific  Tests. 

The  statistics  of  crime  are  the  most  difficult  to  deal 
with  satisfactorily  of  any  branch  of  sociological  statistics. 
The  principal  difficidties  have  already  been  mentioned  in 
the  first  part  of  this  chapter,  and  will  be  dealt  with  here 
only  summarily.  The  first  is  that  we  are  absolutely 
dependent  upon  the  official  records  of  the  courts  of  law. 
These  are  very  little  influenced  by  any  scientific  considera- 
tions, because  in  the  administration  of  justice  it  is  necessary 
to  adhere  to  precedent  and  the  letter  of  the  law.  When 
one  considers  the  far-reaching  consequences  involved 
in  the  revision  of  the  penal  code  of  a country,  it  can 
readily  be  understood  how  mere  considerations  of  scientific 
classification  or  of  international  comparability  have  little 
influence.  We  are,  therefore,  obliged  to  take  the  sources 
of  information  as  we  find  them  and  do  the  best  we  can. 

Von  Scheel  distinguishes  four  branches  of  Judicial 
Statistics.  2 

1.  Judicial  Statistics  proper.  These  comprise  statistics 
of  the  business  transacted  by  the  courts,  as,  for  instance, 

1 Conrad’s  Jahrbiiclier,  1894,  p.  729.  2 ^llg.  Stat.  Archiv,  Vol.  I.,  p.  185. 


284 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


the  number  of  judges  and  other  officers,  the  number  of 
cases  tried,  the  kind  of  cases,  whether  criminal  or  civil, 
etc.  These  statistics  are  of  value  to  the  government,  but 
are  of  no  great  interest  to  the  student  of  sociology. 

2.  Statistics  of  the  Administration  of  Justice.  These 
include  the  number  of  persons  accused,  acquitted,  or  con- 
victed, and  the  penalties  inflicted. 

3.  Prison  Statistics.  These  include  the  number  of 
prisoners,  a description  of  the  prisons,  the  cost  of  main- 
taining prisoners,  the  kind  of  work  done,  etc. 

4.  Criminal  Statistics.  These  concern  themselves  with 
the  criminal  as  an  individual,  as  a member  of  the  popula- 
tion. The  study  of  criminal  statistics  is  the  most  important 
for  sociology,  although  we  use  all  of  the  last  three  kinds. 
As  a matter  of  fact,  we  are  obliged  to  seek  our  data  wher- 
ever we  can  And  them,  sometimes  in  judicial  statistics,  some- 
times in  prison  statistics,  and  sometimes  in  special  investi- 
gations of  criminal  statistics.  It  requires  great  care  and 
discrimination  to  combine  the  results  from  these  different 
studies  so  as  to  make  a consistent  whole.  It  is  evident,  for 
instance,  that  the  proportion  of  different  kinds  of  crime  Avill 
not  be  the  same  taking  the  convictions  of  a single  year,  as  by 
taking  the  number  of  persons  coiffined  in  prison.  In  the 
latter  case  the  more  serious  crimes  would  be  more  strongly 
represented,  because  of  the  greater  length  of  the  sentence. 

The  second  question  of  great  importance  is  upon  what 
figures  we  shall  base  our  statistics.  In  the  administration 
of  justice  there  are  successive  periods,  dui’ing  which  we 
can  observe  the  number  of  persons  connected  with  crime. 
There  are,  first  of  all,  the  persons  accused  ; that  is,  the 
number  of  persons  arrested  or  detained  on  suspicion.  Of 
these,  a certain  number  are  at  once  discharged  for  want 
of  evidence,  and  we  have  secondly,  the  number  actually 
committed  for  trial.  Of  these,  a certain  number  are  never 
tried,  because  the  evidence  is  not  as  strong  as  it  seemed, 
so  that  we  have  thirdly,  the  number  of  persons  actu- 


CRIME. 


285 


ally  tried,  and  fourthly,  the  number  convicted.  The 
number  of  actual  criminals  is,  of  course,  represented  only 
by  the  fourth  class,  but  the  other  classes  are  interesting, 
both  as  showing  the  extent  of  criminality,  and  also  the 
efficiency  of  the  administration  of  justice.  In  England, 
for  instance,  in  1884-85  the  number  of  indictable  offences 
committed  was  43,962,  and  the  number  of  persons  appre- 
hended was  19,207,  or  only  43.7  per  cent  of  the  number 
of  crimes  committed.  Of  the  persons  apprehended,  26.8 
per  cent  were  discharged,  7.7  per  cent  were  bailed  to 
appear  for  trial,  and  65.3  per  cent  were  committed  for 
trial.  Of  the  number  of  persons  committed  or  bailed  for 
trial,  about  75  per  cent  were  convicted.  Of  the  number 
proceeded  against  summarily,  about  80  per  cent  were  con- 
victed. It  is  apparent  from  these  figures,  that  there  are 
many  crimes  committed  for  which  no  one  is  convicted,  so 
that  the  number  of  convicted  persons  is  not  a full  measure 
of  the  number  of  criminals  in  the  community.^  It  still 
remains,  however,  the  fundamental  figure  because  of  its 
definiteness  and  legal  character.  In  England  they  have 
still  an  additional  figure  which  is  of  some  interest,  namely, 
the  number  of  the  criminal  classes,  such  as  known  thieves 
and  depredators  ; but  while  such  figures  are  of  sociological 
interest,  they  are  not  accurate  criminal  statistics. 

It  is  a question  whether  to  count  the  number  of  crimes, 
or  the  number  of  criminals.  Sometimes  several  persons 
are  involved  in  one  crime.  In  that  case,  to  count  all  the 
persons  gives  us  too  many  crimes.  In  other  cases,  one 
criminal  commits  a series  of  crimes,  as,  for  instance,  a 
thief  may  have  committed  ten  thefts,  or  a forger  a hun- 
dred forgeries  before  he  is  convicted.  To  count  all  these 
crimes  would  give  us  too  many  criminals.  A man  also 
may  be  convicted  of  two  or  three  different  crimes.  To 
enter  a conviction  under  each  one  of  these  crimes  would 
again  give  too  many  criminals.  Practically,  the  object  of 
1 Judicial  Statistics,  England,  1885,  p.  xiii. 


286 


STATISTICS  AISTD  SOCIOLOGY. 


interest  to  the  community  is  the  number  of  criminals.  In 
Germany  it  is  the  custom,  where  a man  is  convicted  of  more 
than  one  crime,  to  classify  him  with  the  heavier,  and  let 
the  lesser  go  without  a criminal. 

A precisely  similar  difficulty  is  met  with  when  we  sum 
up  the  total  number  of  criminals  or  crimes  committed 
during  a single  year.  Among  the  less  serious  offences, 
such  as  drunkenness  and  disorderly  conduct,  the  same 
individual  may  he  convicted  and  punished  twice  or  oftener 
during  the  same  year.  It  would  be  impossible  to  elimi- 
nate these  duplications,  except  by  careful  examination  of 
the  names.  These  are  often  falsely  given,  and  even  if 
rightly  given,  the  convictions  occurring  in  different  police- 
courts  in  different  parts  of  the  country  makes  it  utterly 
impossible  to  identify  the  individuals. 

Another  technical  difficulty  is  that  the  convictions  do 
not  occur  at  the  same  time  as  the  crime.  The  convictions 
of  one  calendar  year  represent  partly  crimes  committed 
during  that  year,  and  partly  crimes  committed  during 
the  preceding  year.  This  is  of  considerable  importance 
when  we  consider  the  causes  of  crimes.  When  we  com- 
pare the  number  of  thefts  with  the  price  of  food,  we  must 
remember  that  only  about  two-thirds  of  the  convictions 
will  fall  in  that  year  for  which  we  have  the  price  of  food. 

Another  important  question  is  what  we  shall  include  in 
the  number  of  crimes.  There  are  a number  of  transac- 
tions which  are  punished  by  the  courts  but  which  have 
nothing  of  a criminal  nature,  such  as  the  mere  violation 
of  police  ordinances  in  regard  to  cleaning  the  sidewalk, 
begging  and  vagabondage,  etc.  Among  the  crimes 
themselves  there  are  many  due  simply  to  negligence 
or  carelessness,  and  others  which  are  committed  in 
the  excitement  of  the  moment  but  which  result  in  little 
damage  to  the  community,  and  show  no  serious  crimi- 
nal instinct  on  the  part  of  the  perpetrator.  Of  the 
356,357  persons  convicted  of  crime  in  Germany  in  1887, 


CRIME. 


287 


Von  Scheel  excludes  94,472  as  being  of  minor  importance. 
Among  these  are  disturbance  of  the  house  peace,  insult, 
small  damage  to  property,  and  slight  injuries  to  persons. 
Still  further,  he  excludes  over  20,000  evasions  of  military 
duty.  Of  the  remainder,  73  per  cent  come  under  the  five 
heads,  simple  larceny,  dangerous  injury  to  the  person, 
fraud,  embezzlement,  and  resistance  to  officers.  Less 
numerous  but  more  important  are  the  following  : murder, 
homicide,  perjury,  and  rape.  These  two  classes,  namely,  the 
very  serious  crimes  and  the  less  serious  but  more  numerous 
are  of  special  interest  in  criminal  statistics.  It  is  there- 
fore advisable  to  follow  these  out  particularly  in  our  in- 
vestigations of  crime,  its  manifestations,  and  its  causes, 
rather  than  to  take  the  whole  mass  of  criminal  offences. 

International  comparison  of  criminality  meets  with  such 
difficulties,  owing  to  differences  in  the  classification  of 
crimes,  in  procedure,  and  in  police  efficiency,  that  most  sta- 
tisticians refuse  to  undertake  it.  It  is  certainly  true  that 
international  comparison  of  the  total  amount  of  criminality 
in  different  countries  is  entirely  useless.  Our  only  hope  of 
success  seems  to  be  in  choosing  certain  serious  crimes  which 
are  pretty  well  marked  and  comparing  their  prevalence  in 
different  countries.  The  ones  chosen  for  this  purpose  are 
commonly  murder,  homicide,  grand  larceny,  and  rape.  But 
even  in  this  limited  range  it  is  necessary  to  exercise  the 
greatest  care  in  such  comparisons.  One  of  the  most  recent 
efforts  shows  the  following  results : ^ 

Number  op  Persons  condemned  per  100,000  Inhabitants  for 

Murder.  ‘Wounding*.  Larcenies. 


Italy 8.05  226.06  78J7 

France 1.46  71.62  114.79 

Germany 0.80  154.70  177.36 

Austria 2.15  285.19 

England 0.40  130.97 

Scotland 0.56 

Ireland 0.86 

Spain 5.21 


1 Bodio,  Communication  sur  1’ organisation  de  la  statistique  p6nale  en 
Italie,  Institut  International  de  Statistique,  1889. 


288 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


This  table  shows  that  there  are  enormous  differences 
in  the  tendency  to  crime  in  different  countries  ; and  it  is 
allowable  to  seek  the  reason  for  these  differences  in  the 
social  constitution  and  the  economic  condition  of  these 
different  countries.  A true  criminal  sociology  will  prob- 
ably some  day  be  able  to  trace  out  the  factors  contribut- 
ing to  or  causing  crime.  In  the  meantime  it  is  the  office 
of  statistical  science  to  present  the  figures  in  such  a way 
that  they  may  be  compared  with  each  other. 

Reflective  Analysis. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  add  much  to  what  has  already 
been  said  in  the  introduction  to  this  chapter  in  regard 
to  the  importance  of  criminal  statistics.  The  great  ques- 
tion is  : — What  sort  of  phenomenon  is  crime  ? Is  it  a 
function  of  the  social  organization  in  the  same  sense  as 
births,  or  deaths,  or  even  suicides?  We  have  seen  that 
statistics  are  unable  to  answer  this  question  completely. 
The  evidence  points,  however,  to  marked  regularity  in  the 
phenomenon  itself  and  to  well-defined  influence  of  great 
forces  such  as  climate,  economic  condition,  sex,  age,  and 
biological  condition.  We  are  simply  at  the  beginning  of 
this  investigation,  which  will  require  a great  expenditure 
of  time  and  labour  before  we  have  a real  science  of  crime. 
Valuable  results,  however,  are  even  now  reached  for  prac- 
tical sociology. 


SUICIDE. 


241 


to  show  the  importance  of  suicide  as  a social  fact,  and 
also  to  introduce  the  question  whether  it  is  a voluntary 
or  an  involuntary  action. 

Statistical  Data. 

The  Number  of  Suicides.  The  number  of  suicides  is 
somewhat  difficult  to  determine,  because  it  is  not  always 
easy  to  distinguish  between  suicides  and  accidental  or 
violent  deaths.  The  statistics  are  sufficiently  accurate, 
however,  to  show  striking  differences  between  countries. 
The  numbers  per  1,000,000  inhabitants,  for  the  different 
countries  of  Europe  (average  of  1887  to  1891)  are  as 
follows : 


Denmark  . 

253 

Belgium 

. . 122 

Holland  . . 

. 58 

France  . . 

218 

Sweden 

. . 119 

Scotland . . 

. 56 

Switzerland 

216 

Bavaria 

. . 118 

Italy  . . . 

. 52 

Prussia  . . 

197 

England 

. . 80 

Ireland  . . 

. 24 

Austria . . 

159 

Norway 

. . 66 

These  figures  show  very  marked  differences,  and  al- 
though there  are  some  variations  from  year  to  year,  the 
general  order  of  the  countries  is  not  changed.  There  are 
some  remarkable  extremes  besides  those  shown  above. 
Saxony  has  a constantly  enormous  rate  of  suicides,  the 
average  from  1862  to  1886  being  322  per  million  inhabi- 
tants, and  in  1887  it  was  340.  Russia  is  supposed  to  have 
a rate  of  about  27  per  million  inhabitants,  and  Spain  also 
is  low.  In  the  United  States  the  rate  for  1881-85  was,  in 
Connecticut  103,  in  Massachusetts  91,  in  Vermont  87,  and 
in  Rhode  Island  82.  Some  of  the  contrasts  between 
neighbouring  countries,  such  as  Sweden  and  Norway, 
France  and  Belgium,  Belgium  and  Holland,  England  and 
Ireland,  are  very  remarkable.^ 

1 Eor  statistics  of  suicides  from  1816  to  1875,  see  Morselli,  Suicide, 
p.  20.  For  later  statistics,  see  Bulletin  de  I’Institut  international  de 
Statistique,  Vol.  VII.,  2 erne  livraison,  p.  306.  Jahrbiiclier  fiir  National- 
oekonomie  und  Statistik,  Dritte  Folge,  Bd.  VIII.,  p.  430.  Publications 
of  American  Statistical  Association,  Vol.  III.,  p.  163. 


242 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


In  all  these  countries  there  has  been  a great  increase  of 
suicide  since  statistics  were  first  collected.  In  Norway- 
alone  there  seems  to  have  been  a decrease  since  the  begin- 
ning of  the  century.  In  Prussia  the  number  has  more 
than  doubled,  in  France  it  has  nearly  trebled.  In  England 
it  showed  a remarkable  regularity  for  many  years,  averag- 
ing ahvays  about  66  per  million,  but  in  recent  years  the 
number  has  increased,  until  in  1891  it  was  85  per  million. 
Morselli,  after  careful  examination  of  the  figures,  comes  to 
the  following  conclusion:  “Frequency  of  suicide  shows 
a growing  and  uniform  increase,  so  that,  generally,  volun- 
tary death  since  the  beginning  of  the  century  has  increased, 
and  goes  on  increasing  more  rapidly  than  the  population, 
or  the  general  mortality.”  This  average  annual  increase 
of  suicide  is  in  the  generality  of  cases  between  one  and 
three  per  eent.  In  Sweden,  while  the  average  increase  of 
population  was  0.81  per  cent,  the  annual  increase  of  suicide 
was  1.5  per  cent.  In  France  the  increase  of  population 
was  0.07  per  cent,  of  suicides  2.06  per  cent ; in  Italy,  of 
population  0.7  per  cent,  of  suicides  1.28  ; in  Prussia,  of 
population  0.98  per  cent,  of  suicides  1.07. 

The  regularity  from  year  to  year  in  the  number  of 
suicides  is  sometimes  very  striking.  In  England  the 
number  varies  less  than  that  of  homicides  and  illegitimate 
births.  In  Sweden  it  varies  less  than  the  annual  number 
of  homicides,  or  of  marriages,  and  varies  but  little  more 
than  the  number  of  deaths,  or  of  accidental  deaths.  In 
Bavaria  the  annual  number  of  suicides  varies  less  than 
homicide,  marriage,  illegitimate  births,  and  accidental 
deaths.  In  fact,  suicide  is  one  of  those  phenomena  where 
we  expect  to  find  much  the  same  regularity  and  much  the 
same  variation  as  in  the  ordinary  so-called  "vdtal  statistics 
of  a population.^ 

Influence  of  Climate  and  Seasons  on  Suicide.  Morselli 
has  made  great  efforts  to  trace  the  influence  of  what  he 
1 Morselli,  Suicide,  pp.  30  and  34. 


SUICIDE. 


243 


calls  cosmico-natural  forces  on  the  number  of  suicides. 
In  regard  to  climate  and  geographical  position  no  very 
clear  law  is  discernible.  There  are  two  marked  centres 
where  the  rate  of  suicide  is  always  high,  namely,  Paris  and 
the  kingdom  of  Saxony.  As  we  recede  from  these  centres, 
the  rate  of  suicide  grows  less.  Thus,  it  is  less  in  Southern 
France  than  in  Northern.  It  is  very  large  in  the  Prus- 
sian province  of  Saxony,  and  lowest  in  the  Rhine  province. 
It  is  highest  in  the  southeast  of  England,  and  lowest  in 
North  England  and  Wales.  Finally,  the  rate  of  suicide 
is  low  in  Spain,  Italy,  Greece,  Ireland,  Scotland,  Finland, 
and  Russia,  countries  lying  along  the  circumference  of  a 
circle  whose  centre  is  the  region  of  highest  suicide  in 
Central  Europe.  This  distribution,  although  not  exact 
in  every  respect,  is  rather  remarkable. 

The  influence  of  changes  of  temperature  on  suicide  is 
better  determined.  If  we  take  the  average  number  by 
months,  we  find  that  in  general,  and  for  all  countries,  it 
increases  regularly  from  the  beginning  of  the  year,  and 
reaches  a maximum  in  June  ; it  then  decreases,  reaching 
a minimum  in  December.  In  Germany,  taking  the  sta- 
tistics for  Prussia,  Saxony,  Wiirtemberg,  Baden,  and  Ham- 
burg, for  the  14  years  from  1872  to  1885,  covering  87,439 
suicides,  the  distribution  by  months,  on  the  basis  of  1200 
per  year,  or  100  per  month,  was  as  follows  : 


January  . . 

78 

May . . . 

. 122 

September  . 

. 99 

February  . . 

85 

June  . . 

. 126 

October  . . 

. 92 

March  . . . 

90 

July . . . 

. 121 

November  . 

. 80 

April  . . . 

119 

August  . . 

. 108 

December  . 

. 70 

It  seems 

that 

the  tendency  to  commit  suicide  is 

influ- 

enced,  not  so  much  by  the  intense  heat  of  mid-summer, 
as  by  that  of  spring  and  early  summer.  It  is  the  change 
of  temperature  which  affects  the  system.  This  fact  must 
be  brought  into  connection  with  the  greater  frequency  of 
mental  diseases  at  this  same  season  which  partly  accounts 
for  the  increase  of  suicide.^ 

iMorselli,  Suicide,  p.  64.  Allg.  Statist.  Archiv,  Vol.  n.,  p.  45. 


244 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


Suicides  have  been  distributed  according  to  the  day  of 
the  week  on  which  they  occur,  showing  the  miuimuTn 
number  on  Saturday,  pay-day,  and  the  next  lowest  on 
Sunday,  the  day  of  rest  and  recreation.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  proportionate  number  is  very  heavy  on  Monday 
and  Tuesday,  when  the  debauch  is  over,  the  money  spent, 
and  the  hardships  of  life  again  felt. 

Ethnological  Influences.  There  has  been  a great  ten- 
dency to  attribute  differences  in  the  suicidal  mania  to 
differences  in  race  temperament.  People  of  Germanic 
blood  are  supposed  to  be  of  more  melancholic,  and  at  the 
same  time  idealistic  temperament,  and  thus  to  be  easily 
tempted  to  take  their  own  lives.  The  Romance  nations 
are  thought  of  as  light-hearted,  and  little  disposed  to  take 
the  ills  of  life  seriously.  In  support  of  this  \dew  is  the 
fact  that  the  highest  rate  of  suicide  is  found  in  Central 
Germany.  Still  further,  those  parts  of  Prussia  which 
have  the  purest  Germanic  blood  show  the  highest  rate, 
while  the  eastern  provinces,  with  an  intermixture  of 
Slavic  blood,  show  the  lowest.  In  Switzerland  the  rate 
is  higher  in  the  German  cantons  than  in  the  French  or 
Italian.  In  Austria  it  is  higher  in  German  Austria  than 
in  Hungary.  In  Italy  the  higher  rate  in  the  north  is 
supposed  to  be  due  to  the  greater  proportion  of  Germanic 
blood  ; and  in  France,  the  high  rate  about  Paris  is  due  to 
the  same  influence,  intensified  by  the  presence  of  a great 
city.  The  very  low  rate  in  Ireland,  Spain,  Southern  Italy, 
Roumania,  Russia,  and  Finland  is  attributed  to  the  influ- 
ence of  Celtic,  Latin,  and  Slavonic  blood.  The  great  dif- 
ficulty witli  this  theory  is  the  comparatively  low  rate  of 
suicide  in  Anglo-Saxon  England.  Morselli  attributes  it 
to  intermixture  with  Celtic  blood,  but  this  is  contrary  to 
the  best  historians.  Economic  and  political  causes  may 
possibly  have  reduced  the  Germanic  tendency  to  suicide. 
The  general  conclusion  seems  to  be,  that  the  peoples  of 
Germanic  blood  have  a greater  tendency  to  suicide. 


SUICIDE. 


245 


although  other  causes  very  often  modify  or  change  this 
tendency. 

Social  Influences  on  Suicide.  Habits  and.  manner  of  life 
must  have  great  influence  in  encouraging  or  controlling 
the  tendency  to  suicide.  If,  however,  the  race  influence 
be  a strong  one,  then  all  these  social  influences  would  be 
intermixed  with  ethnical  ones,  and  be  difficult  to  distin- 
guish. If  we  choose  out  marked  social  differences,  we 
shall  find  some  interesting  variations.  In  Europe,  for 
instance,  it  is  well  known  that  suicides  are  more  common 
among  Protestants  than  among  Catholics.  We  have  in 
support  of  this  the  broad  fact  that  purely  Catholic  coun- 
tries like  Italy,  Spain,  and.  Portugal  have  the  smallest 
number  of  suicides,  while  countries  almost  purely  Protes- 
tant, such  as  Saxony,  Denmark,  and  parts  of  Prussia,  are 
among  those  having  the  largest.  Such  a classification 
might  seem  to  depend  upon  race  more  than  religion,  since 
all  the  first  group  are  Celtic  or  Latin,  and  all  the  second  are 
Germanic.  A better  basis  for  inquiry  is  found  in  those 
countries  where  the  population  is  partly  Catholic  and 
partly  Protestant.  It  is  then  necessary  to  compare  the 
number  of  suicides  of  each  religious  confession  with  the 
total  number  of  persons  of  that  confession.  Morselli 
makes  37  comparisons  of  this  sort,  and  in  only  4 of 
them  do  the  Catholics  show  a rate  of  suicide  superior  to 
that  among  Protestants  ; in  Bavaria  and  Prussia  the  rate 
of  suicide  among  Protestants  was  two  and  a half  times  that 
among  Catholics.  The  Jews  everywhere  show  a strong 
aversion  to  suicide.^ 

In  regard  to  education  and  culture,  it  is  a well-known 
fact  that  those  countries  where  the  people  are  the  best 
educated  show  the  largest  number  of  suicides.  Exam- 
ples of  this  are  Prussia  and  Saxony,  with  their  com- 
pulsory school  education  on  the  one  side,  and  Spain 
and  Italy,  with  their  great  amount  of  illiteracy  on  the 
1 Morselli,  Suicide,  p.  122. 


246 


STATISTICS  AJSTD  SOCIOLOGY. 


other.  In  Italy  illiteracy  is  greatest,  and  suicide  least 
frequent  in  the  southern  provinces.^  The  statistics  of 
school  attendance,  of  newspapers,  of  libraries,  and  other 
evidences  of  culture  show  parallel  results.  This  connec- 
tion of  suicide  with  education  is  explained,  of  course,  by 
the  fact  that  mental  development  brings  greater  danger 
of  nervous  disorders,  and  greater  sensitiveness  to  mental 
and  physical  suffering. 

Influence  of  Economic  Condition.  Here  we  can  trace 
the  same  general  influence  as  in  births,  deaths,  and  mar- 
riages. Bad  times,  wars,  and  commercial  crises  tend  to 
increase  the  number  of  suicides,  but  the  effect  is  generally 
observable  the  following  year.  The  years  1846-47  showed 
an  increase  in  suicide  in  all  the  countries  of  Europe, 
except  Sweden  and  Bavaria.  The  years  1873-74  were  fol- 
lowed by  an  increase  of  suicide  in  Prussia,  Austria,  and 
Italy.  In  England  the  number  varies  inversely  with  the 
per  capita  exports  and  imports. 

Suicide  in  Cities.  In  general,  suicide  is  more  frequent 
in  the  city  than  in  the  country.  In  Prussia,  for  instance, 
in  1888  the  rate  for  the  whole  state  was  198,  wliile  that 
for  Berlin  was  288.  In  German  cities  of  15,000  inhabitants 
and  over,  the  number  of  suicides  from  1887  to  1891  Avas 
246  per  million.  Morselli  says  that  for  every  100  suicides 
in  each  country,  there  were  in  London  123,  in  Berlin  140, 
in  Copenhagen  112,  in  Stockholm  464. ^ Nagle  gives  the 
rate  of  suicide  in  1880  in  London  as  93.4,  in  New  York 
126,  Berlin  276,  Philadelphia  80,  Vienna  316,  Glasgow 
23.7,  Brooklyn  54.7,  Liverpool  55.1.®  The  greater  fre- 
quency of  suicide  in  cities  is  explained  by  the  immigra- 
tion of  the  vicious  and  dissipated,  and  by  the  greater 
excitement  and  worry  of  city  life. 

Individual  Biological  Influence.  There  are  always  more 

1 Ibid.,  p.  131.  Statistlca  delle  Cause  di  Morte,  Anni  1889  e 1890. 

2 MorseUi,  II  Suicidio,  p.  273. 

3 Nagle,  Suicide  in  New  York  City. 


SUICIDE. 


247 


men  than  women  among  suicides,  generally  in  the  propor- 
tion of  3 or  4 to  1.  In  England  the  number,  in  1891,  was 
1863  males  and  620  females,  which  is  a proportion  of  3 
to  1.  In  Prussia  the  proportion  was  3.7,  in  Italy  4,  and 
in  France  3.7,  to  1.  The  proportion  of  men  to  women 
is  always  very  low  in  England,  showing  that,  for  some 
reason  or  other,  English  women  are  more  inclined  to 
suicide  than  the  women  of  other  nations.  It  is  easy  to 
understand  that  there  should  be  more  men  committing 
suicide  than  women.  They  have  more  responsibility  and 
care,  are  more  ambitious,  are  less  willing  to  acquiesce  in 
defeat,  are  more  given  to  dissipation  and  reckless  conduct, 
and,  as  a rule,  have  more  physical  courage.  Morselli 
asserts  that  the  organic  structure  of  the  brain  makes  women 
feel  atmospheric  changes  quicker,  so  that  the  increase  of 
suicide  in  the  spring  shows  itself  more  quickly  among 
them  than  among  men.  He  also  asserts  that  the  increase 
of  suicide,  especially  in  cities,  is  falling  more  heavily  upon 
men  than  upon  women. 

Influence  of  Age.  The  number  of  suicides  increases 
with  age.  Suicide  among  children  is  rare,  although 
such  cases  do  occur.  In  Prussia,  from  1883  to  1888, 
no  less  than  289  school-children  committed  suicide.^ 
In  large  cities  cases  occur  among  very  young  children, 
driven  to  it  by  misery.  Some  old  figures  for  France 
record,  out  of  an  aggregate  of  25,760  suicides  from  1835 
to  1844,  1 child  of  5 years,  2 of  9 years,  2 of  10  years, 
6 of  twelve  years,  7 of  13  years,  and  2 of  14  years.  It 
is  always  difficult  to  ascertain  the  motive  for  suicide,  even 
among  adults  ; among  children  it  is  much  more  difficult. 
In  Prussia  the  prevailing  motive  among  the  pupils  in  the 
higher  institutions  was  failure  in  examination  or  pro- 
motion, while  among  those  in  the  lower  institutions  it 
was  fear  of  punishment.  Mental  derangement  was  also 
assigned  as  the  cause  in  numerous  cases. 

iPreuss.  Zeitschrift,  1890,  S.  C.  xxxiii. 


248 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


Combination  of  Age  and  Sex.  The  true  method  of 
measuring  the  suicidal  mania  is  to  compare  the  number 
of  suicides  of  each  sex  and  age  period  with  the  total 
number  of  persons  of  that  sex  living  at  each  age.  The 
number  of  suicides  is  so  small  that  the  proportions  vary 
somewhat  from  year  to  year.  An  example  of  the  dis- 
tribution is  given  in  the  following  table,  showing  number 


of  suicides  per 
(1877)  : 

1,000,000  of 

each  age 

and  sex 

in  Prussia 

Age. 

Men. 

Women. 

Age. 

Men. 

Women. 

Under  15  . 

7 

3 

40  to  50  . 

. 500 

100 

15  to  20  . 

. 150 

70 

50  to  60  . 

. 750 

90 

20  to  25  . 

. 320 

80 

60  to  70  . 

. 750 

140 

25  to  30  . 

. 280 

60 

70  to  80  . 

. 670 

130 

30  to  40 . 

. 320 

70 

Over  80  . 

. 460 

120 

It  will  be  seen  from  this  table  that  among  men  there 
is  an  increase  of  suicidal  mania  at  the  age  of  20  to  25, 
the  period  of  youthful  passion  and  dissipation,  but  that 
the  real  maximum  is  not  reached  until  the  age  of  50 
to  60.  Among  women  it  is  reached  about  10  years 
later.  There  is,  however,  a greater  proportion  of  youth- 
ful suicides  among  women  than  among  men.  In  Eng- 
land the  tendency  to  suicide  among  women  of  the  age 
15  to  20,  owing  to  shame,  is  so  great  that  the  number 
actually  exceeds  the  number  of  suicides  among  men  of 
that  age.  This  difference  is  clearly  brought  out  in  the 
following  table,  showing  the  number  of  male  suicides 
to  100  female  suicides  in  England  and  Wales,  1861-70  : 


Age  . . . 

0-15. 

15-20. 

20-35. 

35-45.  45-55. 

55-65. 

Proportion  . 

129 

89 

182 

288  296 

400 

Age  . . . 

65-75. 

75-85. 

85-. 

All  Ages. 

Proportion  . 

373 

281 

254 

278 

It  will  be  seen  that  while  ordinarily  there  are  278  male 
suicides  to  100  female,  the  proportion  is  much  less  up 
to  the  age  of  35,  and  that  during  the  age  15  to  20  there 
are  only  89  male  suicides  for  100  female. 


SUICIDE. 


249 


Conjugal  Condition  of  Suicides.  If  we  classify  the  sui- 
cides according  to  conjugal  condition,  we  shall  find  that 
the  proportionate  number  is  greater  among  the  single 
than  among  the  married,  and  is  still  greater  among  the 
widowed  and  divorced.  In  Italy,  for  instance,  while 
the  rate  was  45.9  for  the  married,  it  was  56.4  for  the 
single  (15  years  and  over),  and  72.8  for  the  widowed. 

If  we  distinguish  conjugal  condition  according  to  sex, 
we  shall  find  that  the  favourable  influence  of  marriage  is 
much  less  marked  among  women  than  among  men.  In 
some  cases  the  proportionate  number  of  suicides  is  even 
greater  among  married  women  than  among  the  single. 
In  Italy,  if  we  represent  the  number  of  married  suicides  of 
either  sex  by  100,  the  number  among  single  men  would 
be  153,  while  among  single  women  it  would  be  only  118 ; 
among  widowers  it  would  be  represented  by  275,  and 
among  widows  by  157.  There  are  very  great  fluctuations 
in  these  proportions  from  year  to  year.  They  probably 
point  to  two  influences,  namely,  the  power  of  natural 
selection  by  which  persons  with  incipient  suicidal  mania 
are  more  or  less  shut  out  of  marriage,  on  account  of  symp- 
toms of  mental  disorder  or  violent  temper  manifesting 
themselves  ; and  secondly,  the  good  influence  of  married  life 
in  conducing  to  order  and  temperance.  The  higher  num- 
ber among  the  widowed  is  explained  by  grief,  and  by  the 
economic  distress  and  anxiety  often  following  widowhood. 
That  marriage  does  not  have  as  favourable  influence  among 
women  as  among  men  is  due  to  the  dangers  which  child- 
bearing brings  to  the  woman.  The  highest  rate  of  suicide 
is  found  among  the  divorced,  but  the  cases  are  so  few 
in  number  that  not  much  reliance  can  be  placed  upon 
the  proportions.  But  it  can  easily  be  conceived  that 
violence  of  temper  and  passion  which  lead  to  divorce 
might,  in  many  cases,  subsequently  lead  to  suicide.  In 
this  same  connection  it  is  curious  to  observe  the  favour- 
able influence  of  children.  Married  men  with  children 


250 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


have  a lower  rate  of  suicide  than  childless  married  men. 
Widowers  with  children  have  a lower  rate  than  childless 
widowers.  And  among  women  the  influence  of  maternal 
affection  is  so  favourable  that  it  overcomes  the  adverse 
influence  of  widowhood,  so  that  widows  with  children 
have  a lower  rate  than  childless  married  women. ^ 

Among  the  special  social  influences  affecting  the  in- 
dividual none  is  greater  than  that  of  occupation  and 
profession.  We  can  hence  classify  the  suicides  accord- 
ing to  occupation  and  social  position,  whether  labourers, 
employers,  civil  or  military  officials,  etc.  This  classi- 
fication, however,  is  of  no  value  unless  we  compare  the 
number  of  suicides  with  the  total  number  of  persons  in 
each  occupation.  Such  an  attempt  has  been  made  in 
Italy,  and  the  figures,  although  probably  not  very  exact, 
show  the  following  general  order  of  occupation.  The 
numbers  (for  1889)  are  on  the  basis  of  10,000  males,  15 
years  of  age  and  over,  in  each  occupation  according  to  the 
census  of  1881. ^ 


Police,  custom-house  officers, 
etc 

8.0 

Coachmen,  cab-drivers,  etc.  . 2.9 
Bakers 2.4 

Military 

6.2 

Workers  in  iron  . . 

, ...  2.2 

Clerks  and  bookkeepers  . . 

4.5 

Porters 

, ...  1.6 

Merchants 

3.7 

Domestic  servants  . 

...  1.2 

These  figures  are  not 

very 

trustworthy  on 

account  of 

the  uncertainties  of  the  classification  by  occupations. 
There  is  one  profession  for  which  we  have  particular 
figures  that  are  of  interest.  Suicide  in  the  army  is  much 
more  frequent  than  among  civilians.  The  rate  per  million 
was,  in  Austria  1220,  in  Germany  670,  in  Italy  400,  in 
France  290,  in  Belgium  240,  in  England  230,  in  Russia  200. 
These  proportions  are  far  higher  than  those  for  men  of 
the  same  age  in  the  general  population.^  Suicide  is  most 

1 Morselli,  Suicide,  p.  231,  ff. 

2 Statistica  delle  Cause  di  Morte,  1891. 

*Allg.  Statist.  Archiv,  Vol.  II.,  p.  715. 


SUICIDE. 


251 


frequent  among  the  lower  officers  of  the  army,  three  or 
four  times  as  frequent  as  among  the  privates.  The  reason 
for  this  suicidal  mania  seems  to  be  the  monotony  of  the 
service.  Suicide  is  more  frequent  when  the  army  is 
abroad  than  when  at  home,  and  in  hot  climates  than  in 
cold. 

Suicide  is  more  frequent  among  prisoners  than  among 
the  ordinary  population.  Here  the  reason  is  manifest, 
while  the  opportunity  for  suicide  is  less,  so  that  the  exact 
figures  are  not  very  instructive. 

Motive  for  Suicide.  It  is,  of  course,  very  difficult  to  as- 
certain the  exact  motive  for  suicide.  The  person  himself 
is  dead,  and  has  often  carried  his  secret  with  him ; the 
family  friends  try  to  conceal  the  real  motive  in  case  it  is 
a disgraceful  one  ; and  often  it  is  a combination  of  evils 
which  drives  to  suicide,  any  one  of  which  may  be  assigned 
as  the  motive.  Very  little  stress,  therefore,  is  to  be  laid 
upon  the  relative  number  of  cases  set  down  against  each 
cause.  It  is  only  by  taking  a long  series  of  years  and 
many  different  countries  that  we  get  some  general  notion 
of  the  principal  reasons  driving  persons  to  suicide.  The 
distinction  of  sex  also  gives  us  some  interesting  results. 
The  following  table  (from  Morselli,  p.  278)  must  be 
studied  with  these  considerations  in  mind. 


Out  op  1000  Suicides. 

Prussia,  ISIS-TS. 

Feauce,  1866-75. 

Itaxt 

1872-77. 

Motivb  Assigned. 

Male. 

Female. 

Male. 

Female. 

Male. 

Female. 

Mental  disorders 

. 229 

441 

252 

415 

280 

417 

Physical  diseases 

. 61 

64 

127 

118 

82 

73 

Weariness  of  life 

. 127 

97 

45 

29 

43 

7 

Passions  .... 

. 27 

63 

17 

45 

49 

75 

Vices 

. 129 

21 

149 

56 

12 

1 

Domestic  afBiction  . 

. 48 

51 

138 

164 

96 

90 

ELnancial  trouble  . 

. 41 

12 

65 

18 

170 

27 

Misery 

. 35 

18 

48 

36 

101 

52 

Remorse,  shame,  etc. 

. 103 

108 

64 

52 

42 

27 

Despair,  unknown  . 

. 199 

125 

95 

67 

125 

231 

One  sees  immediately  the  great  dominance  everywhere 


252 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


of  mental  disorders  as  the  cause  of  suicide.  It  is  never  less 
than  one-fourth  of  the  whole  number,  and  is  oftener  one- 
third.  This,  doubtless,  points  to  a fact,  while  at  the  same 
time  showing  a tendency,  which  is  very  prevalent,  to  allege 
insanity  as  the  cause  of  suicide.  Closely  connected  with 
mental  disorders  are  suicides  from  emotional  causes,  such 
as  remorse,  shame,  despair,  and  domestic  affliction.  Of 
less  importance  are  causes  ascribed  to  passion,  vice,  and 
weariness  of  life.  On  the  other  hand,  physical  suffering, 
under  the  head  of  disease  and  misery,  plays  a very  con- 
siderable part.  It  is  obvious,  however,  that  this  classifi- 
cation is  so  minute  that  it  is  foUy  to  insist  upon  its 
exactness.  Between  countries  there  seem  to  be  some 
characteristic  differences,  as  misery  is  especially  prominent 
in  Italy,  and  mental  disorders  in  the  Germanic  countries. 
The  distinction  of  sex  reveals  the  greater  prominence  of 
mental  disorders  among  women,  and  of  weariness  of  life, 
vice,  and  financial  trouble  among  men.  A classification  by 
age  would  show  that  passion,  shame,  and  remorse  are  high- 
est in  youth,  while  the  proportion  for  mental  diseases,  \dce, 
and  financial  trouble  increases  up  to  maturity  and  com- 
mencement of  old  age.  Among  women,  shame  is  alleged 
as  a cause,  especially  below  the  age  of  20,  while  vice  and 
debauchery  are  very  strong  between  the  ages  of  40  and  60. 

Method  and  Place  of  Suicide.  It  has  long  been  known 
that  there  was  great  regularity  in  the  method  of  commit- 
ting suicide,  in  the  same  country  from  year  to  year. 
Hanging  seems  to  be  the  favourite  method,  except  in  Italy. 
Next  to  hanging  comes  drowning,  and  next  to  drowning, 
the  use  of  firearms.  Women  prefer  the  less  violent 
methods.  Hence,  in  almost  all  countries  drowning  is 
more  common  among  women  than  among  men,  while  the 
use  of  firearms  is  naturally  more  common  among  men. 
Regularity  is  shown  even  in  the  choice  of  the  same  kind 
of  poison  from  year  to  year.  In  large  cities  the  use  of 
firearms  is  more  common  than  in  the  country,  while  hang- 


SUICIDE, 


253 


ing  is  less  so.  Industrial  progress  introduces  new  methods 
of  suicide,  as,  for  instance,  crushing  by  railroad  trains. 
Asphyxia  from  charcoal  began  in  Paris,  and  has  been 
steadily  extending  into  the  provinces. 

Scientific  Tests. 

A great  deal  of  uncertainty  rests  upon  all  statistics  of 
suicide,  owing  to  the  difficulty  of  determining  whether  a 
death  has  been  an  accident  or  a suicide.  Where  suicide 
is  felt  to  be  a disgrace  to  the  family,  as  it  very  often  is,  an 
effort  will  be  made  to  ascribe  the  death  to  accident.  In 
the  case  of  persons  found  dead,  as,  for  instance,  drowned, 
it  is  often  absolutely  impossible  to  say  with  certainty 
whether  it  was  a suicide  or  not.  With  the  increasing 
attention  paid  to  the  statistics  of  death,  greater  care  is 
exercised  in  assigning  the  canse,  and  so  our  statistics  of 
suicide  will  probably  become  more  trustworthy.  In 
Prussia,  since  1883,  they  have  taken  particular  pains  to  con- 
trol these  statistics.  For  this  purpose,  they  began  to  com- 
pare the  special  returns  of  suicide  made  in  the  general  death 
returns,  and  those  made  by  the  police,  the  army,  and  the 
railroad  and  mining  service.  The  result  was  that,  by  this 
comparison,  the  total  number  of  suicides  in  1883  was 
raised  23.8  per  cent.  This  shows  that  in  the  case  of  sui- 
cide a special  investigation  will  probably  be  necessary 
before  our  figures  will  be  either  complete  or  trustworthy.^ 

The  great  uncertainty  of  the  motives  assigned  for  sui- 
cide, as  ordinarily  classified,  has  already  been  alluded  to. 
Here  also  it  will  only  be  by  expert  service  that  we  shall  get 
trustworthy  results.  Still,  where  the  proportion  remains 
the  same  through  a series  of  years,  it  shows  that  popular 
opinion  in  regard  to  the  motive  has  remained  about  the 
same.  For  this  popular  opinion  there  must  be  some  foun- 
dation in  the  general  circumstances  connected  with  suicide, 
so  that  while  our  statistics  may  not  show  us  the  true 
iPreuss.  Zeitschrift,  1886,  S.  K.,  p.  xxiii. 


254 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY, 


motives,  they  at  least  show  us  the  motives  ascribed.  The 
general  picture,  therefore,  may  be  a true  one,  and  reveal, 
in  a way,  the  connection  between  suicide  and  other  facts 
of  social  life.  It  may  even  do  more,  by  emphasizing  that 
condition  of  life  in  each  country  which  is  particularly 
severe  in  its  pressure,  leading  even  to  suicide.  When  we 
find  insanity  in  Germany,  and  physical  misery  in  Italy, 
assigned  as  the  principal  motive  for  suicide,  we  seem  to 
detect  the  influence  of  the  social  condition  of  the  two 
comitries.  So,  also,  when  we  distribute  motives  according 
to  seasons,  and  find  insanity  most  frequently  assigned 
during  the  early  summer,  we  connect  the  phenomenon 
immediately  with  the  greater  frequency  of  mental  dis- 
orders at  that  time,  which  we  in  turn  carry  back  to  the 
influence  of  temperature.  In  the  same  way,  when  we  dis- 
tribute motives  according  to  the  age  of  the  suicide,  and 
find  shame  and  passion  strongly  represented  in  youth, 
domestic  affliction  and  financial  trouble  in  old  age,  our 
statistics  of  motives  seem  to  agree  with  our  psychology  of 
social  life. 

The  final  question  under  tliis  head  would  be  as  to  the 
real  regularity  manifest  in  this  phenomenon.  Here  we 
have  a variety  of  considerations.  Westergaard  speaks  as 
follows  on  this  question  : “ The  regularity  so  often  spoken 
of  in  this  branch  of  statistics  is  altogether  mythical,  the 
numbers  varying  enormously  from  year  to  year.  In  Den- 
mark the  number  of  suicides  in  1875  was  394,  in  1876  it 
was  507,  and  almost  the  same  number  in  1871.  In  most 
countries  the  number  of  suicides  is  increasing  rapidly. 
In  Prussia  the  number  of  suicides  increased  from  3300  in 
1873  to  5300  in  1882.”  But  while  there  is  no  regularity 
in  the  number  of  suicides,  there  is  an  astonishing  regular- 
ity in  some  of  the  minor  relations,  such  as  the  number  of 
male  suicides  to  female.  The  regularity  is  not  as  great 
as  in  the  case  of  births,  but  it  is  stiU  remarkable.  If  we 
compare  the  variations  according  to  the  theory  of  proba- 


SUICIDE. 


255 


bilities,  we  shall  find  that  the  variation  in  the  relative  num- 
ber of  men  and  women  is  not  greater  than  the  mean  error 
would  allow.  The  same  experiment  can  be  carried  out  in 
respect  to  the  choice  of  the  method  of  suicide  by  men  and 
women.  Taking  the  whole  number  of  suicides  in  Den- 
mark from  1861  to  1886,  it  will  be  found  that  56.0  per 
cent  of  the  women  and  82.9  per  cent  of  the  men  committed 
suicide  by  hanging.  Applying  this  average  percentage  to 
the  suicides  for  (say)  1865,  we  should  have  295  men  and 
53  women.  The  actual  numbers  were  294  and  57.^ 

But  while  in  many  of  these  minor  relations  we  have 
great  regularity  in  the  statistics  of  suicide,  when  we 
come  to  predict  the  absolute  number  for  a large  country 
the  difficulties  become  very  great.  It  is  necessary  to  find 
years  when  the  economic  condition  is  the  same  in  regard 
to  prices,  wages,  credit,  employment,  and  the  like.  The 
seasons  must  be  similar,  and  abnormal  social  influences, 
such  as  wars,  must  be  absent.  To  distinguish  these 
different  things  is,  however,  much  more  difficult  than  to 
construct  the  ordinary  categories  of  married  and  unmar- 
ried persons,  etc.  All  that  we  can  accomplish  is,  by 
observation  of  these  economic  and  other  relations,  to  reduce 
the  variations  somewhat,  and  thus  to  discover  any  ten- 
dency towards  regularity. 

Reflective  Analysis. 

Statistics  of  suicide  give  rise  to  various  reflections  con- 
cerning the  importance  of  this  phenomenon  for  the  com- 
munity. Suicides  being  for  the  most  part  men  and 
women  of  adult  age,  the  economic  loss  to  the  community 
is  very  considerable,  inasmuch  as  it  loses  the  future  pro- 
ductive labour  of  the  suicide  and  also  the  cost  of  bring- 
ing him  up.  It  is  difficult  to  get  a numerical  expression 
for  this,  because  so  much  depends  upon  the  quality  of  the 

1 Westergaard,  Grundztige  der  Statistifc,  pp.  13  and  46. 


256 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


life  which  has  been  sacrificed.  Morselli  reckons  for  the 
persons  committing  suicide  in  Italy  during  the  12  years 
from  1866  to  1877,  that  they  had  lived  through  a total 
of  448,555  years.  Reckoning  the  average  age  in  Italy  as 
27  years,  this  aggregate  would  represent  a loss  of  16,613 
individuals  in  the  average  time  of  life,  equal  to  an  annual 
loss  of  1386  individuals  in  the  prime  of  life.  A similar 
calculation  for  Prussia  gave  an  annual  average  loss  of 
4096,  and  for  France  of  7896  persons  in  the  prime  of 
life.  These  figures  are,  of  course,  to  a certain  extent  ficti- 
tious, because  many  of  the  suicides  are  better  out  of  life 
than  in  it.  But  they  serve  as  a rough  measure  of  the 
economic  loss. 

Much  more  important  than  any  economic  loss  is  the 
consideration  of  suicide  as  an  indication  of  social  distress. 
Suicide  means  failure  in  life  for  a certain  number  of  mem- 
bers of  the  community.  It  is,  therefore,  a matter  of  great 
consequence  whether  it  is  increasing  or  decreasing,  and 
what  its  connection  is  with  the  other  facts  of  social  life. 
The  most  striking  fact  is  the  constant  increase  of  suicide 
with  civilization.  There  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that  this 
is  true,  and  the  general  reasons  for  it  are  not  difficult  to 
understand.  One  is  the  increased  number  of  desires  and 
wants  of  the  civilized  man,  wliich  if  unsatisfied,  he  pre- 
fers death  rather  than  continued  life.  The  savage  resorts 
to  suicide  only  under  stress  of  extreme  hunger  or  physi- 
cal misery ; the  civilized  man  from  shame,  dishonour, 
remorse,  disappointed  ambition,  — feelings  which  are  pres- 
ent only  in  a state  of  culture.  Again,  civihzation  brings 
with  it  increased  intellectual  development,  and  that  in 
itself  means  greater  delicacy  of  the  nervous  system  and 
greater  exposure  to  mental  disorder.  This  seems  to  be 
a part  of  the  price  that  we  pay  for  oui’  civilization. 
Finally,  while  the  civilized  community  has  an  incompara 
bly  greater  command  over  nature  than  the  savage,  so  that 
the  struggle  for  existence  for  the  whole  community  is 


KACE  AND  NATIONALITY. 


305 


parentage;  and  3,418,656  or  29.72  per  cent  had  one  par- 
ent foreign  and  one  parent  native. 

These  figures  do  not  show  accurately  the  intermixture  of 
nationalities,  for  under  the  head  of  native-born  may  be  a per- 
son of  the  same  descent  as  the  other  parent.  For  instance, 
an  Irish  child  might  have  an  Irish  father  and  an  Irishwoman 
of  the  second  generation  of  the  immigration  as  mother. 
It  would  be  of  mixed  parentage  according  to  the  statistics, 
although  in  reality  of  pure  Irish  blood.  This  combination 
would  occur  more  frequently,  the  older  the  immigration. 
The  fact  is  reflected  in  the  statistics  of  nationalities,  as 
shown  in  the  following  table  : ^ 

White  Persons  of  White  Persons  of 

Foreign  Parentage.  Foreign  Parentage. 


Having  one 

Having  one 

Specified 

Having 

parent 

SPEOIFtED 

Having 

parent 

Countries. 

both  par- 

born as 

COUMTBIBB. 

both  par- 

born as 

ents  born 

specified 

ents  born 

specified 

as  speci- 

and one 

as  speci- 

and one 

fied. 

parent  na- 

fied. 

parent  na- 

tive. 

tive. 

Per  Cent. 

Per  Cent. 

Per  Cent. 

Per  Cent. 

Ireland  . . 

. 84.31 

15.69 

Norway 

. 92.30 

7.70 

Germany  . . 

. 84.30 

16.70 

Denmark  . 

. 91.28 

8.72 

England  . . 

. 69.18 

30.82 

Bohemia  . 

. 95.29 

4.71 

Scotland  . . 

. 72.70 

27.30 

France  . . 

. 69.28 

30.72 

Wales  . . . 

. 77.01 

22.99 

Hungary  . 

. 97.54 

2.46 

Canada  (English)  63.55 

46.45 

Italy  . . 

. 94.93 

5.07 

Canada  (French)  86.10 

13.90 

Russia  . . 

. 97.46 

2.54 

Sweden . . . 

. 95.04 

4.96 

Other  countries  86.29 

13.71 

This  table  shows  that  the  Canadian  English,  the  English, 
and  the  Scotch  have  the  greatest  tendency  to  marry  native 
women.  The  Russians,  Hungarians,  and  Italians  have  the 
least  inclination  that  way.  This  is  due  to  the  difficulty 
of  the  language  and  the  newness  of  the  immigration. 

It  is  a well-known  fact  that  foreign  men  marry  native 
women  more  often  than  foreign  women  marry  native  men. 
The  excess  of  white  persons  having  foreign  fathers  over 
those  having  foreign  mothers  was  1,341,524.  This  is 
1 Eleventh  Census,  Part  I.,  p.  clxv. 


306 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


due  primarily  to  the  excess  of  male  over  female  immi- 
grants, fully  three-fifths  of  the  immigrants  being  males. 
Of  the  4,826,245  persons  who  had  Irish  fathers,  only 
4,608,833  had  Irish  mothers  ; and  of  the  6,759,890  per- 
sons who  had  German  fathers,  only  6,146,255  had  Ger- 
man mothers.  The  percentage  of  those  having  foreign 
father  of  the  specified  country  and  native  mother  was:  — 
among  the  Irish,  10.54  per  cent;  the  Germans,  12.33  per 
cent ; the  English,  20.63  per  cent;  the  Italians,  4.45  per 
cent;  the  Hungarians,  1.94  per  cent,  etc. 

We  meet  with  some  intermarriage  among  the  different 
foreign  nationalities.  There  were,  in  1890,  922,268  white 
persons  of  mixed  foreign  parentage.  Every  conceivable 
combination  is  met.  The  most  common  is  between  Irish  and 
English,  and  Irish  and  English  Canadian.  But  there  were 
46,131  persons  having  one  parent  Irish  and  one  German; 
9739  of  mixed  Irish  and  French  parentage  ; 4,774  of  mixed 
Irish  and  French  Canadian  ; 2993  of  Irish  and  Swedish  ; 
1869  of  Irish  and  Italian  ; 1739  of  Irish  and  Norwegian; 
466  of  Irish  and  Russian,  and  228  Irish  and  Bohemian. 
Some  of  these  combinations  are  extremely  curious  and 
show  what  an  alembic  the  United  States  is  for  the  mixt- 
ure of  nationalities. 

Scientific  Tests. 

When  we  come  to  base  sociological  reasoning  on  statis- 
tics of  race  and  nationality,  the  first  question  that  arises 
is  whether  there  are  distinguishing  marks  by  which  to 
classify.  For  it  is  obvious  that  unless  there  exist  some 
clearly  defined  characteristic  which  ordinary  statistical 
observation  can  take  cognizance  of,  our  enumeration  and 
classification  is  mere  guess-work,  and  the  basis  of  our 
reasoning  fallacious.  In  respect  to  the  statistics  of  races 
of  men  we  are  in  fact  in  that  predicament.  Ethnologists 
differ  as  to  their  number.  Some  allow  only  three,  others 
make  five,  seven,  and  so  on  up  to  sixteen.  Colour  of  skin, 


RACE  AIJD  NATIONALITY. 


307 


craniology,  hair  characteristic,  physical  measurements,  are 
variously  used,  but  no  one  is  an  unfailing  test.  Hence, 
as  already  said,  the  enumeration  of  the  number  of  men 
belonging  to  the  white,  red,  yellow,  and  black  races  is 
entirely  misleading. 

The  scientific  test  in  the  case  of  half-breeds  or  mixed 
races  fails  also.  The  attempt  of  the  Eleventh  Census  of 
the  United  States  to  distinguish  between  blacks,  mulattoes, 
quadroons,  and  octoroons  was  a failure,  and  the  failure 
might  have  been  and  was  predicted.  The  persons  them- 
selves could  not  give  their  ancestry,  for  such  mixture 
comes  about  generally  in  a state  of  slavery  or  social 
degradation  of  the  mother.  Shade  of  colour  of  skin  could 
not  determine  it,  for  it  is  too  uncertain,  and  we  have  also 
the  phenomenon  of  atavism,  or  reversion  to  a pure 
ancestral  type,  e.g.^  a mulatto  woman  may  have  a pure 
black  child.  Such  statistics  are  impossible. 

When  we  come  to  the  races  of  the  same  group,  such 
as  the  Teutonic,  Celtic,  and  Slavonic,  the  difficulties  are 
almost  as  great.  There  are  two  tests,  language  and 
political  affinity.  The  former  is  insufficient,  for  men  of 
the  same  race  may  speak  different  languages,  i.e.,  a por- 
tion of  the  race  may  acquire  a new  language,  like  the 
French  Huguenots  in  America,  whose  descendants  speak 
English.  The  language  of  the  minority  tends  to  disap- 
pear, like  Irish,  Gaelic,  and  Cymric  in  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland.  The  stronger  the  political  union,  the  more  apt 
this  is  to  occur.  In  the  United  States,  English  is  the 
dominant  tongue,  and  the  Slav,  the  Teuton,  the  Latin  all 
acquire  it  and  lose  the  old  language  in  the  course  of  a 
generation  or  two. 

It  is  true  that  statistics  of  race  based  on  differences  of 
language  sometimes  have  political  importance  for  a par- 
ticular country.  The  strange  language  may  serve  to 
mark  a portion  of  the  population,  which,  on  account  of 
race,  or  religion,  or  previous  political  independence,  con- 


308 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


stitutes  an  element  hostile  to  the  dominant  power.  Such 
is  the  significance  of  the  mixture  of  races  in  Austria- 
Hungary.  The  Bohemians,  the  Poles,  the  Servians,  the 
Croats,  represent  not  so  much  differences  of  race  as  sec- 
tions of  population  bound  together  by  old  national  ties, 
and  imperfectly  united  to  the  empire.  The  Magyars 
represent  not  so  much  race,  as  a nationality  ambitious 
of  political  independence.  In  Germany,  the  Poles,  the 
Lithuanians,  the  Danes,  and  the  French  represent  unassim- 
ilated fractions  of  the  population,  which  are  too  small 
to  be  dangerous,  but  still  are  irritating.  In  Switzerland 
the  test  of  language  is  of  political  importance  as  measur- 
ing the  balance  of  power  between  the  German  and  Latin 
element.  In  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  the  census  dis- 
tinction of  those  persons  who  speak  Celtic  only,  Gaelic 
oidy,  or  Cymric  only,  is  important,  because  it  measui-es  the 
strength  of  the  anti-Teutonic  element  which  refuses  to 
be  assimilated.  The  number  of  persons  able  to  speak 
Irish,  Gaelic,  or  Cymric,  together  with  English,  represents 
an  intermediary  step  towards  assimilation.  The  language 
test  in  these  cases  possesses  some  scientific  value. 

This  test  has  been  applied  with  some  success  in  the 
United  States.  The  census  of  1890  distinguished,  among 
the  foreign-born  males  21  years  and  over,  between  those 
who  had  been  naturalized  or  had  taken  out  naturaliza- 
tion papers,  and  those  who  were  aliens.  The  aliens 
were  further  elassified  into  those  able  to  speak  English, 
and  those  who  are  not.  For  the  whole  country,  32.6 
per  cent  of  the  aliens  do  not  speak  English.  The  results 
vary,  of  course,  from  state  to  state,  according  as  the  im- 
migrants come  from  English-speaking  countries,  or  have 
been  here  a sufficient  length  of  time  to  learn  English. 
In  Massachusetts  only  13.38  per  cent  of  the  aliens  do 
not  speak  English,  while  in  Wisconsin  42.33  per  cent  do 
not.  This  test  shows  nothing  in  regard  to  the  strength 
of  the  foreign  element  in  different  states,  for  it  applies 


EACE  AND  NATIONALITY. 


309 


only  to  those  foreigners  who  have  not  been  naturalized, 
or  have  not  at  least  taken  out  their  first  papers.  Nor  is 
it  a test  even  of  the  strength  of  the  non-naturalized  por- 
tion, because  it  applies  only  to  immigrants  coming  from 
non-English  speaking-countries.  But  so  far  as  it  goes 
it  is  an  interesting  figure,  because  it  discloses  the  portion 
of  the  population  that  is  alien,  both  in  the  sense  of  not 
exercising  political  rights  and  in  language. 

Political  allegiance  is  a very  rough  method  of  distinguish- 
ing race,  as,  for  instance,  in  classifying  all  the  inhabitants 
of  France  as  Celts,  or  all  the  whites  of  the  United  States 
as  Anglo-Saxons.  This  method  takes  no  account  of  sec- 
tions of  other  races  residing  within  the  territory,  as  the 
Basques  or  the  Walloons  living  in  France.  It  takes  no 
account  of  the  immigration  of  large  bodies  of  people  of 
well-defined  race,  such  as  the  Irish,  Italians,  and  Rus- 
sian Jews,  into  the  United  States,  who,  to  whatever  race 
they  may  belong,  are  certainly  very  far  from  being  Anglo- 
Saxons.  This  method  also  absolutely  ignores  the  mixture 
of  races  which  has  gone  on  within  national  bounds  by 
successive  conquests.  All  nations  are  mixed  in  blood. 
On  the  soil  of  Italy  we  have  had  Latins,  Celts,  Greeks, 
Germans,  Normans,  and  Arabs,  not  to  speak  of  Spaniards, 
French,  and  Austrians,  who  have  been  at  different  times 
masters  of  various  parts  of  the  peninsula.  A nationality 
of  pure  race  is  unknown.  Even  the  Chinese  are  mixed 
with  Tartars,  and  the  population  of  India  is  composed  of 
a variety  of  elements. 

F ormer  political  affinity  is  also  a rough  method  of  classi- 
fying race,  and  does  not  gain  in  precision.  For  history  and 
political  association  often  modify  race  so  that  likenesses 
become  unlikenesses.  The  Norman  of  England,  if  he 
could  be  distinguished,  would  at  the  present  time  be 
entirely  different  from  the  Norman  of  France.  The  Saxon 
of  England  is  not  the  same  as  the  Saxon  or  Low  German 
of  Germany.  It  is  arbitrary  to  classify  the  Irishman  and 


310  . 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


Frenchman  together  as  Celts,  when  history  has  developed 
them  into  such  different  beings.  The  attempt  to  group 
men  into  races  on  the  basis  of  former  political  association, 
while  having  all  the  indefiniteness  and  vagueness  of  a 
grouping  by  language,  lacks  the  precision  of  a grouping 
by  nationality  (birthplace)  pure  and  simple.  Physical  envi- 
ronment also  is  declared  by  some  ethnologists  to  be  an 
active  force  in  modifying  races,  as  well  as  in  producing 
them.  Thus  the  climate  and  physical  characteristics  of 
America  (it  is  asserted)  have  so  modified  the  white  colo- 
nists from  Europe,  that  a new  race  is  being  produced  Avhich 
in  some  respects  approaches  more  closely  the  aboriginal 
American  than  the  ancestral  European  race.  If  this  be  so, 
the  only  recourse  is  to  classify  all  the  inhabitants  of 
North  America,  for  instance,  as  a new  race,  instead  of 
identifying  them  with  either  the  Anglo-Saxons  or  Germans 
of  Europe. 

When  we  turn  now  from  the  statistics  of  races  to  those 
of  nationality,  we  seem  to  have  a more  solid  basis  for  our 
observations.  The  distinction  of  nationality  is  one  that  in 
general  is  not  difficult  to  draw.  Most  of  the  people  born 
in  a country  are  of  that  nationality.  There  are  exceptions, 
as  where  children  are  born  to  parents  living  abroad  who 
have  retained  their  allegiance,  but  such  exceptions  are 
insignificant.  In  the  United  States,  for  instance,  in  1890, 
out  of  a population  of  more  than  62  millions,  there  were 
38,030  persons,  the  children  of  native-born  parents,  who 
were  born  abroad.  In  general,  therefore,  the  distinction 
of  nationality  on  the  basis  of  place  of  birth  is  capable  of 
statistical  observation.  The  next  question  is  how  far 
such  a distinction  is  of  any  real  importance.  As  we  have 
just  said,  the  greater  number  of  people  living  in  the  coun- 
try belong  as  a matter  of  course  to  that  nationality.  In 
Germany,  out  of  a population,  m 1890,  of  49,116,182,  there 
were  433,271  foreigners,  that  is,  less  than  one  per  cent. 
In  France,  out  of  a population  of  38,343,192  in  1891,  there 


EACE  AND  NATIONALITY. 


311 


were  1,101,728  foreigners,  that  is,  about  three  per  cent. 
The  most  numerous  among  these  foreigners  in  France  are 
the  Belgians,  and  next  to  them  the  Italians.  In  Switz- 
erland, in  a total  population  estimated  in  1888  to  be 
2,933,334,  there  were  238,313  foreigners,  that  is,  8.1  per 
cent.  Among  the  countries  of  Europe  the  number  of 
foreigners  is  so  insignificant  that  the  question  of  national- 
itj  has  no  great  importance.  It  is  only,  therefore,  in  new 
countries  like  the  United  States,  where  a large  fraction  of 
the  population  is  composed  of  immigrants  or  their  descend- 
ants, that  the  distinction  becomes  one  of  interest. 

It  is  true,  indeed,  as  we  have  already  seen,  that  na- 
tionality does  not  correspond  closely  to  race.  On  the 
other  hand,  national  characteristics  have,  by  the  develop- 
ment of  centuries,  become  almost  as  strong  as  race 
characteristics.  We  cannot  absolutely  distinguish  the 
Celt  from  the  Teuton,  but  we  can  distinguish  the  Irish- 
man from  the  Englishman,  and  we  know  that  each  has 
marked  peculiarities.  We  cannot  say  whether  the  Scotch- 
man is  more  Saxon  or  Celt ; but  we  do  know  of  Scotch 
thrift,  industry,  and  perseverance,  which,  although  not 
exemplified  in  all  individuals,  are  yet  characteristic  of 
the  nation.  In  some  cases,  it  is  true,  compound  nations 
require  subdivision,  and  although  this  is  not  always 
logical,  yet  by  interpretation  it  becomes  useful.  Thus, 
in  the  United  States  statistics,  both  of  emigration  and  of 
the  foreign-born,  they  make  a distinction  between  Aus- 
trians, Hungarians,  and  Bohemians,  although  they  are 
all  subjects  of  the  Austro-Hungarian  empire.  So  also 
in  those  statistics  they  recognize  “Poland,”  a country 
which  has  long  since  disappeared  from  the  maps.  We 
know,  too,  by  observation  that  under  the  term  “Russian,” 
in  the  statistics  of  immigration  and  of  the  foreign-born,  is 
commonly  concealed  a Russian  Jew.  In  the  Massachusetts 
census  of  1885  persons  born  in  Canada  were  distinguished 
as  Canadian  French  or  Canadian  English.  By  these 


312 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


various  interpretations  and  devices  the  mark  of  nationality 
becomes  a valid  statistical  distinction. 

Reflective  Analysis. 

One  final  question  arises  in  regard  to  these  modern 
statistics  of  race  and  nationality,  viz.  : Is  the  classifica- 
tion of  .sufficient  importance  to  serve  as  a basis  for  reason- 
ing? When  we  say  that  the  foreign  element  must  be  an 
important  factor  in  American  political  and  social  life, 
do  we  bear  in  mind  that  under  the  foreign-born  is  in- 
cluded a great  variety  of  nationalities,  German,  English, 
Irish,  Scandinavian,  Italian,  Russian,  etc.  The  addition 
to  our  population  of  a hundred  thousand  intelligent  Eng- 
lish artisans  cannot  mean  the  same  thing  as  that  of  a 
hundred  thousand  ignorant  Italian  or  Russian  peasants. 
The  problem  of  assimilation  must  be  very  different  m the 
two  cases.  In  some  respects  the  nationalities  serve  to 
counterbalance  each  other.  The  German  and  Irish  ele- 
ments have  been  in  this  position  for  many  years.  The 
so-called  foreign  influence  must  vary,  also,  in  different  sec- 
tions of  the  country  according  as  it  is  predominantly  of 
one  or  of  another  nationality.  The  proportion  of  the 
foreign-born  may  be  the  same  in  Massachusetts  as  in 
Minnesota;  but  in  the  former  case  it  is  composed  of  Irish, 
and  in  the  latter,  of  Scandinavians. 

There  are  great  differences  also  among  the  individuals 
of  the  same  nationality.  Some  are  intelligent  and  edu- 
cated, others  are  ignorant ; some  desire  to  become  Ameri- 
cans, others  are  hostile  to  our  institutions  ; some  come 
here  at  adult  age  with  habits  fixed  and  unable  to  change, 
others  are  brought  in  childhood  and  grow  up  under  the 
influence  of  American  institutions.  The  position  of  these 
different  individuals,  their  attitude  towards  American 
life,  their  “ alienage,”  so  to  speak,  must  be  very  different, 
although  we  throw  them  all  together  into  the  one  class 
of  foreign-born.  The  same  particular  dijfficulties  meet  us 


RACE  AND  NATIONALITY. 


313 


when  we  attempt  to  distinguish  the  second  generation  of 
immigrants,  that  is,  the  native-born  of  foreign  parentage, 
from  the  immigrants  themselves.  For  instance,  in  the 
same  immigrant  family  a child  horn  before  the  immigra- 
tion belongs  to  the  first  generation,  while  its  younger 
brother  or  sister  born  after  the  parents  arrived  here  is 
counted  in  the  second.  These  two  persons  have  the  same 
parents,  and  are  brought  up  under  the  same  influences. 
Nevertheless  they  fall  into  different  classes.  On  the  other 
hand,  an  immigrant  who  has  been  here  fifty  years,  perhaps, 
and  is  surrounded  by  children  or  even  grandchildren  of 
native  birth,  falls  into  the  same  class  as  the  foreigner  who 
arrived  yesterday. 

The  continuance  of  the  strength  of  the  foreign  influence 
depends  largely  upon  the  circumstances  which  surround 
the  immigrant  after  he  lands.  Where  the  foreign-born 
of  the  same  nationality  congregate,  the  foreign  lan- 
guage, customs,  and  modes  of  thought  are  perpetuated 
even  into  succeeding  generations.  There  are  in  Wiscon- 
sin, for  example,  whole  villages  and  even  townships  com- 
posed entirely  of  Germans  or  Swedes.  Where,  on  the 
other  hand,  the  foreigners  are  scattered  among  the  na- 
tives, the  dissolving  influence  of  American  life  manifests 
itself  much  more  rapidly.  Statistics  can  help  us,  to  a 
certain  extent,  by  showing  these  agglomerations  of  foreign- 
born  persons  in  different  sections  of  the  country.  Differ- 
ences of  nationality  are  also  shown  by  the  statistics.  Dif- 
ferences of  individual  intelligence,  of  age,  of  character, 
and  of  length  of  residence  here,  cannot  be  shown.  They 
must  be  thrown  together  as  in  the  long  run  counter- 
balancing each  other.  Our  classification,  therefore,  is  a 
general  one,  but  is  sufficient  for  purposes  of  sociological 
.reasoning.  The  reasoning  must  be  general  and  our  con- 
clusions must  be  drawn  with  some  care.  But  under  these 
conditions  the  statistics  of  nationality  seem  to  be  available 
for  scientific  use. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


MIGRATION. 

Sociological  Purpose. 

Besides  the  natural  increase  or  decrease  of  population 
by  births  and  deaths,  the  number  of  inhabitants  of  any 
country  or  locality  may  be  increased  or  diminished  by 
migration.  From  the  beginning  of  human  history  there 
have  been  migrations  of  men.  In  early  times  they  con- 
sisted of  movements  of  whole  tribes  in  a career  of  con- 
quest. The  great  historical  example  of  this  is  the 
migration  of  the  German  tribes  which  resiilted  in  the 
overthrow  of  the  Roman  empire.  History  records  simi- 
lar movements  in  Asia,  and  ethnology  declares  migration 
to  have  been  one  of  the  great  factors  in  the  formation  of 
races  and  the  peopling  of  the  surface  of  the  globe.  A 
second  sort  of  migration  began  with  the  discovery  of 
America,  and  of  the  new  route  to  India  around  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  and  may''be  called  colonization.  This  move- 
ment had  enormous  results  in  the  establishment  of  Euro- 
pean civilization  in  America,  in  Australia,  and  in  South 
Africa,  and  the  extension  of  European  influence  all  over 
the  world.  These  colonization  movements  were  under- 
taken under  national  auspices,  and  the  colony  remained  in 
connection  with  the  mother  country.  After  the  colonies 
in  America  rebelled  against  England  and  Spain,  and  estab- 
lished themselves  as  independent  nations,  emigration  to 
these  countries  no  longer  took  on  the  form  of  colonization, 
but  of  expatriation.  The  modern  movement  of  migration 

311 


MIGEATION. 


315 


is,  therefore,  a movement  of  individuals,  and  not  of  com- 
munities. Its  object  is  not  to  extend  the  power  of  the 
mother  country  either  by  conquest  or  by  colonization,  but 
simply  to  improve  the  economic  or  social  condition  of  the 
individual  migrating.  It  is,  however,  on  this  account 
none  the  less  important.  The  abolition  of  the  restraints 
upon  the  liberty  of  movement  of  the  individual,  the 
improved  means  of  communication,  and  the  inclination  to 
travel  have  made  it  extremely  easy  for  large  numbers  of 
individuals  on  very  slight  notice,  or  under  small  pretext, 
to  change  their  residence  and  their  allegiance.  Such  a 
movement  has  considerable  influence  upon  the  population 
both  of  the  state  losing  the  emigrants  and  of  the  state 
receiving  the  immigrants.  Still  further,  international 
relations  are  so  close  that  the  emigrants  from  one  country 
may  seek  a home  in  another,  whose  inhabitants  speak  a 
different  language  and  have  different  laws,  customs,  and 
modes  of  thought.  This  gives  rise  to  ethnical  mixtures 
and  to  complicated  questions  of  the  reciprocal  influence 
of  men  of  different  races  and  culture  upon  each  other. 
These  questions  involve,  not  merely  the  number  of  the 
population,  but  the  whole  social  and  economic  develop- 
ment of  the  community. 

Besides  migration  from  one  country  to  another,  an 
almost  equally  important  phenomenon  is  the  change 
of  residence  of  people  within  a country.  The  typical 
example  of  this  is  the  migration  from  country  to  city. 
This  movement  has  very  important  economic  and  social 
consequences.  It  threatens  to  depopulate  the  rural  dis- 
tricts and  to  concentrate  population  under  the  less  health- 
ful conditions  of  city  life.  It  magnifies  the  social  evils 
of  pauperism,  mendicancy,  overcrowding,  intemperance, 
and  lack  of  employment.  It  is  one  of  the  characteristic 
features  of  modern  life. 

The  sociological  purpose  of  this  chapter  is  to  give  the 
statistics  of  these  movements  of  population,  both  external 


316 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


and  internal.  We  have  first  the  statistics  of  emigration, 
which  is  principally  from  the  countries  of  Europe  to  those 
of  the  New  World.  We  have  secondly  the  complementary 
figures,  or  the  statistics  of  immigration  to  the  countries 
of  the  New  World.  We  have  in  the  third  place  to  balance 
the  emigration  and  immigration,  and  thus  to  ascertain  the 
net  movement.  We  have  in  the  fourth  place  the  internal 
migration  from  province  to  province,  from  commonwealth 
to  commonwealth,  from  county  to  county,  and  from  country 
to  city.  We  thus  gain  a statistical  picture  of  this  move- 
ment, its  direction,  its  intensity,  and  its  relative  strength  at 
different  times  and  places. 

It  cannot  be  our  intention  to  leave  the  subject  at  this 
point.  It  is  the  office  of  statistics  by  depicting  the  ebb 
and  flow  of  emigration  to  try  to  determine  the  influences 
which  govern  its  intensity  and  its  direction.  It  is  also 
its  duty  to  describe  the  quality  of  the  emigration,  or 
more  especially  of  immigration,  by  analyzing  it  according 
to  the  race  or  nationality  of  the  individuals,  their  sex, 
age,  and  conjugal  condition,  their  occupation  and  social 
position,  their  wealth  or  poverty,  and  their  physical  or 
mental  infirmities.  All  of  these  questions  are  important 
ill  considering  the  effect  of  immigration  upon  the  country 
concerned.  We  must,  therefore,  not  only  ascertain  how 
far  emigration  and  immigration  affect  the  decrease  or 
increase  of  population,  but  also  study  their  influence 
on  the  economic,  political,  and  social  condition  of  the 
community  concerned.  This  will  lead  us  into  some 
minute  and  careful  investigations.  For  internal  migra- 
tion we  must  pursue  a similar  course  of  inquiry. 

The  ultimate  sociological  purpose  of  such  an  inquiry  is 
to  determine  Avhether  migration  is  a natural  function 
of  human  society  at  the  present  time.  It  is  also  neces- 
sary to  determine  what  are  the  advantages  of  this  move- 
ment, and  what  are  its  disadvantages.  The  final  question, 
of  practical  sociology,  is  whether  it  is  necessary  or  possi- 


MIGRATION. 


317 


ble  to  restrict  the  freedom  of  individuals  in  such  a way  as 
to  avoid  the  evils  of  indiscriminate  migration. 

Statistical  Bata. 

Emigration.  For  ancient  and  mediaeval  movements  of 
migration  our  sources  of  information  are  very  incomplete. 
The  numerical  strength  of  the  German  tribes  which  con- 
quered the  Roman  empire,  or  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  who  set- 
tled in  Britain,  is  entirely  a matter  of  conjecture.  For  the 
period  of  colonization  also  our  information  is  incomplete, 
because  no  records  were  kept.  Even  in  modern  times  our 
statistics  are  approximate  only.  We  have  on  the  one  hand 
the  statistics  of  emigration  from  the  countries  of  Europe, 
and  on  the  other  the  statistics  of  immigration  to  the  coun- 
tries of  the  New  World.  The  number  of  emigrants  to  coun- 
tries outside  of  Europe  in  1892  was  : — from  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland,  210,042  ; from  Germany,  112,208  ; from  Italy, 
116,642;  from  Russia,  74,681 ; from  Austria,  31,359 ; from 
Hungary,  20,313  ; from  Sweden  (1891),  38,341 ; from  Nor- 
way, 13,341.  The  total  number  recorded  for  all  Europe 
was  709,073.  Owing  to  modern  methods  of  transportation 
it  is  very  easy  to  leave  any  country,  so  that  not  much 
stress  can  be  laid  upon  the  accuracy  of  these  figures. 
They  serve  to  illustrate  the  strength  of  the  movement 
and  the  relative  participation  of  countries  in  it.^ 

In  respect  to  destination  the  great  tide  of  emigration 
is  from  Europe  to  North  America ; although  the  Latin 
nations  send  a very  considerable  number  of  persons  to 
South  America,  and  Great  Britain  to  Australia.  There 
is  also  in  Europe  a very  considerable  emigration  to 
neighbouring  countries.  This  is  commonly  called  tempo- 
rary emigration,  that  is,  the  emigrants  go  merely  for 
the  sake  of  finding  work,  and  return  after  a period,  gen- 
erally after  the  harvest.  Thus  in  Italy,  in  1892,  while 
the  emigration  “beyond  seas,”  i.e.,  to  America,  Asia,  and 

1 Bulletin  de  I’lnstitut  international  de  Statistique,  Vol,  VTII.  p.  222. 


318 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


Africa,  numbered  116,642,  the  temporary  emigration  to 
European  countries  numbered  107,025.1  temporary 

character  of  this  emigration  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  it 
comes  largely  from  the  provinces  on  the  frontier.  Thus 
in  the  provinces  of  Udine  and  Belluno  more  than  7 per 
cent  of  the  inhabitants  emigrate  temporarily  for  the  pur- 
pose of  finding  work.  Of  such  temporary  emigrants  (in 
1892),  32,391  went  to  France,  21,610  to  Austria,  15,580  to 
Germany,  13,676  to  Switzerland,  and  12,625  to  Hungary. 
This  temporary  emigration  is  strongest  in  the  spring.  Out 
of  100  emigrants,  28.52  leave  in  March,  21.75  leave  in 
April,  10.14  leave  in  February,  and  7.25  leave  in  May. 
Of  the  temporary  emigrants,  nearly  90  per  cent  are  males 
and  only  10  per  cent  are  females.  This  is  a much  larger 
proportion  of  males  than  in  the  permanent  emigration, 
where  generally  about  66  per  cent  are  males.  The 
number  of  children  among  the  temporary  emigrants  is 
small,  those  under  14  years  of  age  numbering  only  6 per 
cent,  while  they  were  22  per  cent  of  the  permanent  emi- 
grants. The  temporary  emigrants  are  principally  agricult- 
urists, farm  and  day  labourers,  bricklayers  and  masons. 
This,  of  course,  is  precisely  what  we  should  expect  in  such 
an  emigration.  The  whole  movement  is  an  interesting 
one  as  showing  the  mobility  of  labour.  These  persons 
expatriate  themselves  for  a time  simply  in  order  to  seek  an 
opportimity  to  laboiu?.  It  is  said  that  many  of  the  Italian 
emigrants  even  to  countries  outside  of  Europe  return 
after  a few  months.  We  have  not  the  statistics  to  show 
this ; but  it  is  reported  that,  in  1893,  there  were  55,281 
Italians  returning  third  class  to  Italy,  and  these  were 
probably  returning  emigrants.  Of  this  number,  20,964 
returned  from  La  Plata,  11,352  from  Brazil,  and  22,965 
from  the  United  States. 

Emigration  and  Population.  The  absolute  number  of 
emigrants  does  not  show  the  strength  of  the  migratory 

1 Statistica  della  Emigrazione  Italiana,  neU’  Anno  1892. 


MIGRATION. 


319 


movement,  because  the  number  of  inhabitants  is  greater  in 
some  countries  than  in  others.  To  get  at  the  true  strength 
we  must  compare  the  number  of  emigrants  with  the  total 
number  of  inhabitants.  If,  at  the  same  time,  we  compare 
the  emigration  with  the  excess  of  births  over  deaths,  we 
can  see  how  much  the  increase  of  population  is  affected 
by  emigration.  The  following  table  gives,  for  two  years, 
the  excess  of  births  over  deaths,  and  the  emigrants  to 
countries  outside  of  Europe,  per  1000  inhabitants,  for  each 
of  the  principal  countries  of  Europe  : 


Excess  of  Bieths  Emiorants  per  1000 

OVER  Deaths,  pee  Inhabitants. 

1000  Inhabitants. 

/— , , A 


1888. 

Italy 9.88 

France 1.16 

Great  Britain  and  Ireland  . 11.87 
England  and  Wales  . . 12.88 

Scotland 12.90 

Ireland 4.95 

Germany 12.88 

Switzerland 7.79 

Sweden 12.61 

Norway 13.84 

Denmark 13.40 


1892. 

1888. 

1892. 

10.14 

6.87 

3.53 

0.5 

0.61 

0.14 

10.54 

7.46 

5.51 

11.50 

5.97 

4.56 

12.17 

8.88 

5.74 

3.04 

15.06 

11.39 

11.6 

2.05 

2.23 

8.7 

2.85 

2.64 

9.1 

9.70 

6.87 

11.9 

11.20 

8.53 

10.1 

4.01 

4.76 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  last  two  columns  that  the  emi- 
gration tendency  is  strongest  in  Ireland,  where  the  num- 
ber of  emigrants  mounts  as  high  as  11  and  15  per  1000 
of  the  inhabitants.  It  is  next  strongest  in  Norway  and 
Sweden.  But  while  in  Ireland  the  excess  of  births  over 
deaths  is  less  than  the  emigration,  in  Norway  and  Sweden 
it  is  much  greater.  This  table  shows  us  clearly  the  effect 
of  emigration  upon  population.  With  the  exception  of 
Ireland  it  is  generally  the  countries  having  a large  excess 
of  births  over  deaths  that  have  a large  emigration.  Emi- 
gration, therefore,  very  seldom  depopulates  a country. 
In  fact,  it  is  sometimes  affirmed  that  it  simply  makes  room 
for  a larger  number  of  births,  so  that  population  increases 


320 


STATISTICS  AXD  SOCIOLOGY. 


as  fast  as  it  otherwise  would.  The  only  effect  of  emigra- 
tion thus  is  to  take  adults  out  of  the  population  and  sub- 
stitute for  them  children.  This  may  be  a bad  economic 
process,  for  it  throws  the  burden  of  rearing  the  population 
entirely  upon  the  country  of  emigration,  but  it  does  not 
diminish  population. 

The  statistics  of  particular  countries  give  us  more  exact 
information  in  regard  to  the  emigration  movement.  In 
Germany,  for  instance,  we  find  the  strength  of  the  emigra- 
tion very  different  in  different  parts  of  the  country.  In 
Prussia  (1892)  the  emigrants  numbered  2.49  per  1000  in- 
habitants, which  is  slightly  greater  than  the  proportion 
for  all  Germany.  But  in  the  Prussian  province  of  Posen 
the  proportion  was  8.63,  in  Pomerania  6.44,  and  in  West 
Prussia  9.33.^  In  fact,  in  some  of  these  eastern  provinces 
the  emigration  is  occasionally  so  large  as  almost  to  wipe 
out  the  excess  of  births  over  deaths. 

If  we  take  the  statistics  of  Ireland  we  find  the  most 
extraordinary  case  of  emigration  affecting  population. 
From  1851  to  1894  the  total  number  of  emigrants  from 
Ireland  was  3,639,465,  which  was  65.1  per  cent  of  the 
estimated  average  population  for  that  period.  In  the 
province  of  Munster  the  emigration  amounted  to  85.9 
per  cent  of  the  average  population,  and  in  the  coruity 
of  Kerry  it  rose  to  93.4  per  cent.  The  drain  on  the  pro- 
ductive part  of  the  population  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 
83.1  per  cent  of  the  persons  who  left  Ireland  in  1894  were 
between  the  ages  of  15  and  35  years,  the  percentage  over 
35  years  being  9.0,  and  under  15  years,  7.9.^ 

In  all  the  countries  of  Europe  it  is  probable  that  emi- 
gration is  balanced  to  a certain  extent  by  immigration, 
that  is,  the  return  of  the  emigrants  to  their  native  coun- 
try. This  returning  tide  is  so  intermingled  with  the  tide 
of  travel,  and  comes  over  so  many  routes,  that  it  is 

1 Statistisches  Jahrbuch  des  Deutschen  Reiclis,  1893. 

2 Emigration  Statistics  of  Ireland  for  the  Year  1894. 


MIGRATION. 


321 


difficult  to  distinguish.  In  Great  Britain  they  keep  a 
record  of  persons  of  British  and  Irish  origin  entering  the 
United  Kingdom,  and  deduct  these  from  the  number  of 
British  and  Irish  origin  leaving  the  United  Kingdom. 
They  obtain  in  this  way  what  they  call  the  net  emigra- 
tion. In  1892  the  emigrants  of  British  and  Irish  origin 
numbered  210,042,  while  the  immigrants  of  British  and 
Irish  origin  numbered  97,780,  leaving  a net  emigration  of 
112,262,  or  about  3.0  per  1000  of  the  total  population  of 
the  United  Kingdom. 

Immigration.  The  other  statistics  of  emigration  in  re- 
gard to  sex,  age,  and  occupation  of  the  emigrants  corre- 
spond very  much  to  similar  statistics  of  immigration.  As 
the  United  States  is  the  most  important  country  in  regard 
to  immigration,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  give  the  statistics 
for  that  country.  The  arrivals  in  the  United  States  from 
1820  to  1894  are  shown  in  the  following  table : 


Austria-Hungary  . 

Total. 

682,804 

Percentage. 

3.91 

Belgium  .... 

57,462 

.32 

Denmark  .... 

178,129 

1.02 

France  .... 

388,657 

2.23 

Germany  .... 

4,904,187 

28.13 

Italy  ..... 

643,631 

3.69 

Holland  .... 

124,338 

.71 

Norway  and  Sweden 

1,113,819 

6.39 

Russia  and  Poland 

612,245 

3.61 

Spain  and  Portugal 

67,103 

.32 

Switzerland  . . . 

194,200 

1.11 

United  Kingdom 

6,656,069 

38.19 

England  . . . 

2,613,366 

15.00 

Scotland  . . . 

367,309 

2.10 

Ireland  . . . 

3,675,384 

21.08 

Rest  of  Europe  . . 

24,390 

.14 

Total  Europe  . . 

15,637,014 

89.72 

British  North  America  ^ . 

1,046,875 

6.00 

China 

803,065 

1.73 

Other  countries  . . 

441,463 

2.62 

Total 

17,428,407 

100.00 

1 Immigration  from  British  North  America  and  Mexico  is  not  included 
since  July  1,  1886. 


322 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


Immigration  according  to  Race.  Out  of  the  17,500,000 
people  who  have  come  to  the  United  States  since  1820, 
more  than  one-fourth  have  come  from  Germany,  and  more 
than  one-fifth  from  Ireland.  In  addition  we  have  15  per 
cent  from  England,  6 per  cent  from  Norway  and  Swe- 
den, and  6 per  cent  from  British  North  America.  The 
mixture  of  blood  is  quite  evident.  The  Germanic  blood 
would  be  dominant  in  the  emigration  from  Germany,  from 
England,  from  Austria-Hungary,  Denmark,  Holland,  Nor- 
way and  Sweden,  and  Switzerland.  The  immigration  from 
British  North  America  is  partly  French,  but  if  we  take  it 
as  one-half  Germanic  and  add  this  to  the  immigration  from 
the  countries  mentioned  above,  we  shall  have  about  60 
per  cent  of  the  total  immigration  as  of  Germanic  blood. 
The  next  strongest  element  is  the  Celtic  blood  of  Ireland 
and  Scotland  ; next  comes  the  Latin  blood  of  Italy,  France, 
Spain,  and  Portugal.  The  Germanic  blood  is  evidently  of 
the  greatest  importance. 

Nationalities.  Further  analysis  of  immigration  by  nation- 
alities shows  remarkable  changes  in  the  proportions  diu’ing 
the  last  few  decades.  During  the  40  years  from  1821  to 
1860  over  one-half  of  the  entire  immigration  was  from 
England  and  Ireland,  and  over  one-third  was  from  Ireland. 
During  the  decade  1841  to  1850  the  Irish  immigration 
rose,  in  fact,  to  such  a figure  that  it  was  over  45  per  cent 
of  the  total.  The  German  immigration  reached  its  high- 
est proportionate  point  in  the  decade  1851  to  1860,  when  it 
constituted  36.6  per  cent  of  the  whole.  Since  1860  the 
English,  Irish,  and  German  immigration  has  decreased  in 
relative  importance,  and  that  from  the  south  and  east  of 
Europe  has  become  more  important.  This  comes  out 
clearly  in  the  following  table  showing  the  percentage  of 
immigration  attributed  to  each  country: 


COTINTET.  1S61-70.  1S71-S0.  lSSl-90. 

England 24.54  16.38  12.53 

Ireland 18.82  15.54  12.49 

Germany 34.02  25.54  27.70 


MIGRATION. 


323 


CoraTEY. 

1861-70. 

1871-80. 

1881-90. 

Austria-Hungary  . . . 

.34 

2.60 

6.74 

Norway  and  Sweden  . . 

4.72 

7.51 

10.84 

Russia  and  Poland  . . 

.20 

1.86 

5.05 

Italy 

.51 

1.98 

5.86 

The  effect  of  the  recent  immigration  of 
sians,  and  Poles  is  clearly  seen. 

Italians,  Rus- 

Immigrants  according  to  Sex  and  Age.  There  are  always 
more  males  than  females  among  the  immigrants,  the  pro- 
portions ordinarily  being  about  60  per  cent  males  and 
40  per  cent  females.  Countries  differ  in  an  interesting 
way.  Taking  the  ten  years  from  1881  to  1890,  of  the 
immigrants  from  Ireland,  51  per  cent  were  males  and  49 
per  cent  females.  This  shows  the  immigration  of  Irish 
domestic  servants.  From  Germany  the  percentage  of  males 
was  57.6,  ^.e.,  less  than  the  average,  due  to  the  fact  that 
the  Germans  emigrate  in  families.  Of  the  immigrants 
from  England,  Scotland,  and  Norway,  61  per  cent  were 
males,  or  about  the  average.  On  the  other  hand,  of  the 
immigrants  from  Russia,  including  Poland,  65.8  per  cent; 
of  those  from  Hungary,  73.8  per  cent ; of  those  from  Italy, 
79.4  per  cent  were  males.  These  latter  figures  show  the 
characteristics  of  a newly  beginning  immigration,  namely, 
that  it  is  composed  principally  of  unmarried  men,  or  of 
married  men  who  come  first  and  send  for  their  families 
later.  In  the  ease  of  Italy  the  proportion  of  males  may 
be  increased,  perhaps,  by  those  who  come  here  to  seek 
temporary  work. 

In  regard  to  age,  out  of  5,246,613  immigrants  from  1881 
to  1890,  1,121,499,  or  21.4  per  cent,  were  under  15  years  of 
age;  3,572,273,  or  68.1  per  cent,  were  between  15  and  40 
years  of  age  ; and  552,841,  or  10.5  per  cent,  were  over  40 
years  of  age.^  The  nationalities  differ  in  somewhat  the 
same  way  as  just  mentioned. 

Germany  furnishes  the  largest  number  of  children, 

1 Quarterly  Report  of  the  Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  the 
Treasury  Department,  No.  2,  1892-93. 


324 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


showing  the  immigration  of  families.  Ireland  shows  the 
largest  number  of  persons  from  15  to  40  years  of  age, 
due  to  the  number  of  domestic  servants.  Italy  shows  the 
largest  number  of  persons  over  40  years  of  age,  due  to 
the  immigration  of  manual  labourers.  The  large  number 
of  children  in  the  Russian-Polish  immigration  probably 
indicates  the  coming  of  whole  families,  and  the  large  pro- 
portion of  adults  from  Hungary,  the  coming  of  single 
workmen.  When  immigration  is  new,  the  number  of 
children  is  apt  to  be  small,  while  later,  women  and  chil- 
dren come  to  join  their  husbands  and  parents  already 
here,  or  whole  families  come  together. 

Occupation  of  Immigrants.  By  far  the  largest  number 
of  immigrants  to  the  United  States  belong  to  the  un- 
skilled occupations.  The  professional  class,  which  em- 
braces musicians,  teachers,  clergymen,  artists,  lawyers, 
physicians,  etc.,  constitutes  a very  inconsiderable  propor- 
tion of  the  total.  The  skilled  occupations  represent  only 
10  per  cent,  while  miscellaneous  occupations  constitute 
nearly  40  per  cent  of  the  total  arrivals,  and  this  class 
includes,  in  the  order  of  their  numbers,  labourers,  farmers, 
servants,  and  merchants.  Nearly  one-half  are  said  to  he 
without  occupation,  but  this  means  principally  children 
and  married  women.  It  would  probably  be  safe  to  say 
that  at  least  four-fifths  of  the  immigrants  belong  to  the 
unskilled  occupations.  This  estimate  corresponds  closely 
with  the  statistics  of  the  occupations  of  emigrants  from 
the  different  countries  of  Europe. 

Economic  and  Social  Condition.  The  152,360  immigrants 
above  20  years  of  age  who  arrived  at  the  port  of  New 
York  during  the  six  months  ending  June  30,  1892,  brought 
13,060,908.05,  average  per  capita,  $20.09.  Immigrants 
from  France  brought  the  largest  amount  of  money,  namely, 
$55.67  per  capita  ; Switzerland  showed  $44.01  per  capita  ; 
Germany,  $35.42  per  capita.  Hungary,  Italy,  and  Poland 
brought  the  lowest  average  amount,  namely,  between 


MIGEATION. 


325 


$11.42  and  $12.31  per  capita.  The  Russians  showed  wide 
variations,  a few  of  them  bringing  large  sums,  while  the 
great  majority  were  almost  entirely  destitute.  If  we 
consider  the  whole  number  of  immigrants,  it  is  evident 
that  the  actual  amount  of  money  which  they  bring  with 
them  is  inconsiderable. 

As  to  the  social  condition  of  immigrants,  we  have  very 
few  indications  aside  from  those  given  by  the  statistics  of 
occupations  and  of  amount  of  money  brought  with  them. 
In  1892,  3732  persons  were  refused  admittance,  and  of 
these  26  were  convicts,  17 . lunatics,  4 idiots,  and  1002 
paupers.  These,  of  course,  include  only  the  extreme 
cases.  There  were  1763  contract  labourers  excluded.^ 

Games  of  Migration.  The  causes  influencing  migration 
at  the  present  time  are  principally  economic.  This  is 
shown  clearly  if  we  study  the  emigration  or  immigration 
by  years.  The  bad  times  in  Europe  in  1827  led  to  an 
increase  in  emigration.  The  bad  times  in  the  United 
States  in  1837  led  to  a falling  off  in  immigration  during 
1838.  The  great  Irish  famine  of  1845-46  led  to  an 
enormous  movement  of  emigration,  afterwards  supple- 
mented by  the  bad  times  in  Germany  in  1853,  which 
raised  the  immigration  into  the  United  States  to  the 
enormous  figure  for  1854  of  427,833.  That  number  was 
abnormal,  and  immediately  declined,  being  still  further 
decreased  by  the  panic  of  1857  in  the  United  States  and 
the  outbreak  of  the  war  of  the  Rebellion,  which  reduced 
the  number 'of  immigrants  to  89,007  in  1862.  The  num- 
ber soon  rose  again,  especially  with  the  prosperity  of  the 
early  “seventies,”  reaching  459,803  in  1873.  The  com- 
mercial panic  of  that  year  brought  a diminution,  which 
found  its  minimum  point  in  1878  with  the  number  138,469. 
The  apparent  return  of  good  times  in  the  United  States 
brought  up  the  number,  so  that  in  1882  it  reached  the 
great  maximum  of  788,992.  Since  that  time  the  number 


1 Ibid. 


326 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


has  fluctuated,  but  has  maintained  an  average  of  ba.1f  a 
million  immigrants  per  annum.  The  year  1894  shows  a 
remarkable  falling  off  again  (314,467),  due  doubtless  to 
the  panic  of  1893.^ 

Balance  of  Emigration  and  Immigration.  It  is  doubtless 
true  that  there  is  a return  movement  of  emigration  from  the 
United  States,  that  is,  of  persons  returning  to  their  native 
country.  If  these  persons  were  counted  as  immigrants  when 
they  came,  they  should  now  be  deducted  in  order  to 
get  at  the  net  immigration  into  the  United  States.  Un- 
fortunately, although  in  oui*  immigration  statistics  we 
distinguish  between  immigrants.  United  States  citizens 
returning  from  abroad,  and  foreigners  travelling  in  this 
country,  for  oui‘  statistics  of  emigration  we  have  only  the 
total  number  of  passengers  departing  from  the  United 
States.  If,  for  a considerable  period,  we  take  the  total 
number  of  passengers  arriving,  and  subtract  the  total 
number  of  passengers  departing,  we  shall  have  the  net 
immigration.  This  flgure  would  not  be  true  for  any 
one  year,  for  the  persons  departing  would  not  necessarily 
be  the  same  as  those  who  arrived  during  that  year,  but  for 
a series  of  years  the  number  should  be  approximately 
correct.  By  this  method  we  arrive  at  the  conclusion  that 
while  the  gross  immigration  during  the  ten  years  1881-90 
was  5,246,613,  the  net  immigration  was  only  4,414,337, 
showing  an  emigration  of  832,276.  This  would  seem  to 
show  that  15.86  per  cent  of  the  total  number  of  immigrants 
to  this  country  sooner  or  later  return  home.  Comparing 
the  net  emigration  of  persons  of  British  and  Irish  origin 
according  to  the  British  statistics  with  the  gross  immigra- 
tion of  such  persons  according  to  the  United  States  sta- 
tistics, we  reach  a return  movement  of  about  20  per  cent 
of  the  gross  immigration.  This  does  not  seem  excessive. 

There  is  one  other  method  by  which  we  should  be  able 
to  ascertain  the  net  strength  of  the  emigration  movement, 
1 Immigration,  etc.,  Treasury  Report,  1894. 


MIGEATION. 


327 


that  is,  by  comparing  the  statistics  of  immigration  with 
the  statistics  of  the  foreign-born.  If,  for  instance,  we 
take  the  foreign-born  of  1880,  and  add  the  immigration 
of  the  succeeding  decade,  and  allow  a death-rate,  say  of  20 
per  1000,  we  should  have  the  number  of  foreign-born 
in  1890.  Where  the  number  thus  calculated  is  too  large, 
the  excess  is  due  either  to  emigration  or  to  a deficiency  in 
the  statistics.  The  different  nationalities  show  great  dif- 
ferences in  this  respect. 

In  the  case  of  Russia  and  Poland,  Denmark,  Norway 
and  Sweden,  there  is  little  or  no  deficiency,  so  that  it  is 
not  necessary  to  allow  for  any  emigration.  In  the  case 
of  Germany,  an  emigration  of  12,500  per  annum  would 
account  for  the  deficiency,  and  it  is  not  unreasonable  to 
suppose  that  there  is  such  an  emigration.  The  other  coun- 
tries show  either  that  there  is  a very  large  emigration, 
or  that  the  death-rate  is  greater  than  20  per  1000.  In  the 
case  of  Italy  and  Hungary  there  is  more  or  less  temporary 
immigration,  which  perhaps  accounts  for  the  large  figures. 
It  is  in  the  case  of  Ireland  that  we  have  the  greatest  dif- 
ficulty. With  a death-rate  of  20  per  1000,  there  is  still  a 
deficiency  of  240,000,  or  36  per  cent  of  the  total  immigra- 
tion. It  is  possible  that  the  death-rate  among  the  Irish 
may  be  greater  than  20  per  mille  although  it  scarcely 
seems  probable.  It  is  also  possible  that  some  of  the  Irish 
in  1890  declared  themselves  to  be  native-born  when  they 
were  in  reality  foreign-born.  Or  both  of  these  causes 
may  have  been  working  together. - 

The  Effect  of  Immigration  on  Population.  Immigration 
must  increase  population  by  the  total  number  of  immi- 
grants, and  as  the  greater  number  of  them  are  in  the 
productive  age  of  manhood  and  womanhood,  the  natural 
increase  of  the  population  is  greatly  accelerated.  We 
cannot  determine  precisely  what  proportion  of  the  popu- 

1 For  full  discussion,  see  my  article,  Immigration  and  the  Foreign-Born, 
in  Publications  of  the  American  Statistical  Association,  Vol.  III.,  p.  304. 


328 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


lation  is  clue  to  immigration,  because  there  is  no  uniform 
registration  of  births  and  deaths.  If  we  take  the  figures 
of  the  foreign-born  and  the  native-born  of  foreign  par- 
entage given  in  the  last  chapter,  we  have  20,625,542 
persons  representing  only  two  generations  of  immigrants, 
or  32.93  per  cent  of  the  population.  But  the  immigrants 
of  the  earlier  years  are  now  represented  by  the  third  or 
fourth  generation,  so  that  the  above  figure  is  entirely  in- 
adequate. Another  estimate  is  reached  by  taking  the 
annual  immigration  since  1820  and  applying  to  it  the 
general  rate  of  increase  for  the  whole  population.  We 
have  no  means  of  knowing,  it  is  true,  whether  the  rate  of 
increase  is  the  same  for  foreign  as  for  native-born.  It  is 
probably  greater,  so  that  our  result  would  be  a minimum. 
Such  a calculation  would  give  us,  for  1890,  about  26  mill- 
ion descendants  of  immigrants  and  29  million  descendants 
of  the  white  colonists.^ 

It  is  sometimes  denied  that  immigration  has  had  any 
very  decided  effect  in  increasing  the  total  population  of 
the  United  States.  The  theory  is  that  the  immigrants 
have  simply  taken  places  which  would  otherwise  have  been 
filled  by  the  natural  increase  of  the  natives,  and  that,  if 
there  had  been  no  immigration,  population  would  have  been 
the  same  or  nearly  the  same,  only  it  would  have  consisted 
of  the  descendants  of  the  colonists  instead  of  the  foreigners. 
Then  the  decreasing  size  of  the  American  family  is  cited 
as  proof  that,  owing  to  the  pressure  of  immigration,  the 
natural  increase  among  the  native-born  is  diminishing. 
The  census  of  Massachusetts  (1885)  showed  that  the 
foreign-born  women  had  a larger  number  of  children 
than  the  native-born,  but  that  there  was  greater  mortality 
among  them.  These  facts  have  already  been  referred  to 
in  considering  the  fecundity  of  marriage.  Chapter  VI., 
p.  115. 

1 Mayo-Smith,  Emigration  and  Immigration,  N.  Y.,  Clias.  Scribner’s 
Sons. 


MIGRATION, 


329 


Immigration  in  other  Countries.  The  phenomenon  of 
immigration  is  more  important  in  the  United  States  than 
elsewhere,  but  the  other  countries  of  America  have  also 
their  immigration.  In  the  Argentine  the  immigration  of 
1889  amounted  to  218,744  persons,  of  whom  88,647 
were  Italians,  71,151  were  Spaniards,  and  27,173,  French. 
This  immigration  was  excessive.  In  1892  it  was  only 
73,242.  As  a rule,  the  Italians  form  70  per  cent,  the 
Spaniards  10.25,  the  French  7.75  per  cent  of  the  total. 
There  is  a large  emigration.  The  excess  of  immigration 
over  emigration  in  the  years  1871-91  was  1,096,450. 

Brazil  has  a very  considerable  immigration,  amounting, 
in  1892,  to  54,509.  More  than  one-half  are  Italians,  and 
the  others  are  Portuguese,  Spaniards,  and  a few  Germans. 
Uruguay  had  an  immigration  of  11,871  in  1892.  In  all 
the  South  American  immigration,  the  countries  principally 
represented  are  those  of  Southern  Europe  ; the  majority 
of  the  immigrants  are  adult  males  and  farm  labourers.^ 

Australia  has  an  immigration  which  amounts  to  from 
200,000  to  250,000  per  annum,  but  is  offset  by  a large  emi- 
gration. The  immigrants  are  mostly  British  in  origin, 
and  68  per  cent  are  males.  Canada  has  a large  immi- 
gration which  is  very  similar  to  that  received  by  the 
United  States.  In  1891  the  number  of  immigrants  pass- 
ing through  Canada  to  the  United  States  was  105,213. 
Doubtless  many  others  eventually  go  to  the  United  States, 
so  that  it  is  difficult  to  say  what  the  real  immigration  into 
Canada  is. 

Internal  Migration.  Besides  emigration  from  a country, 
there  is  a constant  movement  of  population  within  the 
boundaries.  In  some  respects  this  is  almost  as  important 
as  the  movements  of  emigration.  It  tends  to  increase  the 
population  of  some  districts  at  the  expense  of  others.  It 
leads  to  a circulatory  movement  which  is  sometimes  almost 
feverish  in  its  intensity,  and  has  important  economic  and 
social  consequences. 

1 Bulletin  de  ITnstitut  Int.  de  Statistique,  VTI.,  p.  225. 


330 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


There  are  various  ways  of  observing  this  movement  of 
local  migration.  In  some  districts  where  it  is  of  pro- 
nounced character,  such  as  the  influx  of  agricultural 
labourers  from  another  district  at  harvest  time,  pains  are 
taken  to  enumerate  the  number  of  such  persons.  An 
example  of  this  may  be  given  for  Germany  in  regard  to 
the  so-called  “ Sachsengangerei.”  This  is  the  movement 
of  wandering  labourers,  principally  farm  labourers,  into  and 
out  of  the  eastern  provinces  of  Prussia.  During  the  year 
1892  in  the  four  provinces.  East  Prussia,  West  Prussia, 
Silesia,  and  Posen,  96,894  labourers  left  in  search  of  work. 
During  the  same  year  19,128  wandering  labourers  entered 
those  four  provinces  from  Russia  and  Galicia.  This 
movement  corresponds  to  the  temporary  emigration  Avhich 
we  have  already  noticed  in  the  case  of  Italy.  The  statis- 
tics are  not  very  accurate,  because  in  many  cases  it  is  only 
the  provincial  line  that  is  crossed,  and  sometimes  not  even 
that.  Similar  movements  used  to  occur  of  Irish  labourers 
crossing  into  England  for  the  harvest  time,  and  of  London- 
ers going  down  into  Kent  to  gather  in  the  hops. 

A second  source  of  information  is  furnished  by  those 
censuses  where  the  birthplace  of  the  individual  is  distin- 
guished according  to  state,  province,  or  county.  ^ In  the 
United  States,  for  instance,  it  was  shown  in  1890  that  more 
than  21.55  per  cent  of  the  native-born  inhabitants  were 
living  in  a state  other  than  that  in  winch  thej"  were  born. 
This  is  due  to  the  great  migratory  movement  of  settlement 
from  the  East  to  the  West.  In  1890  there  were  1,233,629 
natives  of  New  York  living  in  other  states.  Besides  the 
W estern  movement,  there  is  a constant  exchange  of  inhab- 
itants among  neighbouring  states.  In  Massachusetts,  in 
1885,  out  of  its  1,941,000  inhabitants,  216,725  were  con- 
tributed by  other  New  England  states.  Of  all  the  inhabi- 

1 See  Ravenstein,  The  Laws  of  Migration,  Journal  of  the  Statistical 
Society,  1885,  p.  187,  and  1889,  p.  241,  for  application  of  this  method  to 
various  countries. 


MIGRATION. 


331 


tants  of  Massachusetts,  only  700,813  were  born  in  the  town 
in  which  they  now  live.  The  census  of  1880  showed  that 
only  one-half  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  United  States  were 
living  in  the  county  in  which  they  were  born. 

The  migratory  movement  in  Europe  is  not  so  great  as 
in  the  United  States.  In  Germany  they  divide  the  coun- 
try into  three  great  sections,  the  East,  the  West,  and  the 
South.  Taking  the  statistics  of  birthplace  we  have  the 
following  table  of  the  gain  and  loss  by  internal  migration: 

Gain  Per  1000  Loss  Per  1000 

ty  of  by  of 

Immigration.  Population.  Emigration.  Population. 


East 530,534  30.4  686,666  39.0 

West 866,881  44.1  707,857  36.3 

South 272,755  23.1  275,647  23.4 


The  changes  here  are  of  comparatively  little  importance. 
If  we  take  the  single  states  or  provinces  we  find  the 
changes  more  considerable.  In  Prussia  the  province  of 
Silesia  has  contributed  475,866  persons  to  the  rest  of 
the  empire  ; Posen,  321,319  ; East  Prussia,  324,351.  In 
the  case  of  Silesia  this  was  equal  to  105.5  per  1000  of  the 
population,  in  Posen  to  166.7,  and  in  East  Prussia  to 
146.1  per  1000  of  the  population.  These  provinces  all 
lost  more  than  they  gained.  Other  states  and  provinces 
gained  more  than  they  lost.  Among  them  were  Branden- 
burg with  Berlin,  Hamburg,  and  Schleswig-Holstein  with 
Liibeck,  all  of  them  containing  large  cities.  In  addition, 
the  industrial  provinces  such  as  Westphalia,  and  Rhine- 
land, and  the  kingdom  of  Saxony  gained.  Alsace-Lor- 
raine also  gained. 

A third  method  of  detecting  the  influence  of  internal 
migration  is  by  using  the  census  at  successive  periods,  in 
connection  with  the  registration  of  births  and  deaths. 
By  means  of  the  latter  we  calculate  what  should  be  the 
population  from  one  census  to  another  if  natural  increase 
were  the  only  factor  in  the  movement.  Any  variation 
from  this  must  be  due  to  migration.  Such  a change,  it  is 


332 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


true,  includes  emigration  and  immigration  as  well  as  inter- 
nal migration.  It  represents  also  only  the  net  result  of 
these  movements.  Such  statistics  do  not  give  us  a full 
picture  of  the  whole  movement  of  migration,  but  present 
simply  the  gain  or  loss  of  different  parts  of  the  country. 
A comparison  of  the  population  for  1885  and  for  1890  in 
Germany  shows  that  the  net  loss  by  emigration  for  the 
province  of  East  Prussia  was  13.45,  for  West  Prussia 
13.86,  for  Pomerania  12.07,  and  for  Posen  13.76  per  1000 
inhabitants.  On  the  other  hand,  Brandenburg  shows  a 
gain  of  4.94,  the  city  of  Berlin  of  25.69,  Dresden  7.59, 
and  Leipsic  8.45  per  1000.  This  method  is  very  general, 
and  is  used  principally  for  the  purpose  of  showing  the 
more  rapid  growth  of  the  cities  than  of  the  rural  districts. 
This  is  the  so-called  rural  depopulation  which  has  excited 
considerable  alarm. 


Scientific  Tests. 

It  is  impossible  to  say  that  our  statistics  of  emigration 
and  immigration  are  perfect.  In  some  countries  they 
require  emigrants  to  secure  a permit  in  order  to  emigrate, 
but  with  the  modern  means  of  communication  it  is  per- 
fectly easy  to  get  away  without  such  permit.  Thus, 
in  1880,  the  number  of  Germans  who  secured  permits  to 
leave  Germany  and  settle  in  the  United  States  was  21,251. 
But  the  number  of  Germans  actually  sailing  from  the  four 
ports  of  Bremen,  Hamburg,  Stettin,  and  Antwerp  for 
the  United  States  was  103,115.  From  Prussia,  during  the 
years  1872-77,  it  is  estimated  that  64  per  cent  of  the 
emigrants  went  without  permits.  In  fact,  these  figures 
are  so  inadequate  that  they  are  no  longer  published  by  the 
German  government.  On  the  other  hand,  we  have  sta- 
tistics of  the  number  of  Germans  emigrating  from  German 
seaports,  together  with  Antwerp,  Dutch,  and  Fi’ench  sea- 
ports. This  enumeration  is  never  quite  perfect,  so  that  the 
number  of  Germans  recorded  as  emigrating  to  the  United 


MIGKATION. 


333 


States  is  always  somewhat  less  than  the  number  of  those 
arriving  in  the  United  States.  For  Italy  we  have  similar 
statistics  of  the  Italians  emigrating,  with  similar  dif- 
ferences. In  1889,  113,093  Italians  declared  their  in- 
tention of  emigrating ; while  from  the  statistics  of  the 
ports,  161,937  actually  emigrated.  In  the  same  way, 
while  25,881  Italians  declared  their  intention  of  emi- 
grating to  the  United  States,  30,238  were  recorded  as 
arriving  there.  Our  most  perfect  statistics  probably  are 
those  of  immigration.  Where  the  immigrants  arrive  by 
sea  it  is  comparatively  easy  to  get  their  full  number.  But 
even  in  the  United  States  there  is  a large  overland  immi- 
gration which  it  is  impossible  to  control.  It  is  probable, 
therefore,  that  our  statistics  both  of  emigration  and  immi- 
gration are  imperfect. 

It  will  not  do  to  lay  too  much  stress  upon  the  minor 
statistics  of  immigration.  They  depend  upon  the  declara- 
tions of  the  individuals,  which  we  are  entirely  unable  to 
control.  The  declarations  as  to  age  and  occupation  are 
very  often  carelessly  made,  owing  to  ignorance,  difficulty 
with  the  language,  or  suspiciousness.  The  declarations 
as  to  the  amount  of  money  brought  with  them  are  doubt- 
less below  the  truth.  Even  the  nationality  is  sometimes 
confused,  especially  as  in  the  United  States  we  continue 
to  treat  Poland  as  a separate  country. 

In  considering  the  effect  of  immigration  and  emigra- 
tion upon  the  economic  condition  of  the  country,  care 
must  be  taken  not  to  lay  too  much  stress  upon  mere  sta- 
tistical calculations.  The  question  of  gain  or  loss  depends 
more  on  the  quality  of  the  immigrant  than  upon  the 
number  of  persons.  Immigration  is  a gain  if  the  country 
can  make  use  of  the  immigrant.  Otherwise  it  is  a detri- 
ment. 

All  statistical  estimates  of  the  social  influence  of  immi- 
gration labour  under  precisely  the  same  disadvantage,  viz., 
the  impossibility  of  expressing  in  numerical  terms  the  dis- 


334 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


position  of  men.  When,  however,  we  do  make  use  of 
statistical  measurements,  such  as  the  representation  of  the 
foreign-born  among  the  dependent,  delinquent,  and  defec- 
tive classes,  care  must  be  taken  to  use  the  most  refined 
methods.  The  principal  observation  to  be  made  here  is 
that  such  statistics  are  of  no  value  unless  regard  is  paid  to 
the  age  and  sex  distribution  of  the  respective  classes. 
To  say  that  in  the  United  States  among  the  native-born 
whites  the  number  of  prisoners,  in  1890,  was  882  per 
1,000,000,  while  among  the  foreign-born  whites  it  was 
1822  per  1,000,000,  does  not  prove  that  criminahty  is 
twice  as  frequent  among  the  foreign-born  as  among  the 
native  whites.  Crime  is  more  frequent  among  men  than 
among  women,  and  much  more  frequent,  of  course,  among 
adults  than  among  children.  Among  the  foreign-born 
there  is  a much  larger  number  of  males  than  of  females, 
and  children  are  scarcely  represented  at  all.  It  would  be 
perfectly  natural  to  look  for  a larger  number  of  criminals 
in  a population  thus  constituted  than  in  a native-born 
population.  In  the  same  way,  insanity  is  a disease  of 
adult  life,  blindness  increases  with  advancing  age,  pauper- 
ism is  often  due  to  the  failure  of  strength,  and  we  should, 
therefore,  expect  all  these  misfortunes  to  be  strongly  rep- 
resented in  a population  of  adults.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
idiots,  the  deaf  and  dumb,  the  homeless  children,  the 
juvenile  offenders,  are  more  heavily  represented  in  a 
youthful  population  than  in  an  adult.  Each  one  of  these 
facts  must  be  studied  in  connection  with  the  sex  and  age 
distribution. 

Strictly  speaking,  in  order  to  make  our  statistics  com- 
parable, two  other  things  should  be  taken  into  account. 
One  is  the  economio  condition  of  the  foreign-born,  for  it 
is  a well-known  fact  that  crimes,  especially  petty  crimes 
against  property,  are  more  frequent  among  the  poor  than 
the  well-to-do.  If,  now,  the  immigrants  npon  their  arrival 
are  both  poor  and  ignorant,  without  resom-ces  and  without 


MIGRATION. 


335 


friends,  it  would  be  only  natural  to  expect  a large  amount 
of  criminality  among  them.  This,  however,  is  a condition 
of  things  that  can  easily  change  with  improving  economic 
condition,  and  which  does  not  necessarily  affect  the  per- 
manent morality  of  the  community.  A precisely  similar 
consideration  enters  in  regard  to  the  effect  of  the  change 
of  environment  upon  the  physical  and  moral  condition  of 
the  immigrant.  Change  of  climate,  of  food,  of  manner  of 
life,  may  predispose  the  immigrant  to  certain  diseases, 
and  occasion  increased  mortality.  Change  of  social  envi- 
ronment, freedom  from  the  restraint  of  public  opinion, 
newly-found  independence  of  action,  may  predispose  the 
immigrant  to  social  immorality  and  irresponsibility  of 
conduct.  These  things,  however,  may  also  change,  as 
succeeding  generations  become  acclimated,  physically  and 
morally,  to  the  new  country  and  the  new  society.  It  may 
require  some  time  to  accomplish  this,  for  our  statistics 
seem  to  show  that  the  second  generation,  that  is,  the 
native  whites  of  foreign  parentage,  are  peculiarly  subject 
to  deteriorating  influences.  For  while,  among  the  pris- 
oners, the  native  whites  of  native  parents  had  753  for  each 
1,000,000,  the  native  whites  of  foreign  parents  had  1345. 
The  proportion  is  not  so  great  as  among  the  foreign-born 
whites,  but  is  astonishingly  larger  than  among  the  native 
whites  of  native  parents.  Bad  economic  surroundings, 
orphanage,  homelessness  and  friendlessness,  and  residence 
in  cities,  probably  account  in  large  measure  for  this  differ- 
ence. It  would  be  extremely  desirable  in  our  statistics  to 
take  account  of  these  social  differences,  but  it  is  only  occa- 
sionally that  we  can  measure  them. 

Our  statistics  of  internal  migration  are  also  of  great 
interest  and  importance.  With  the  modern  freedom  of 
travel  and  the  frequent  change  of  domicile,  it  has  become 
impossible  to  keep  track  of  this  movement  by  direct 
observation,  i.e.^  by  enumerating  all  those  who  go  out  or 
come  in.  Our  only  resource  is  to  take  the  statistics  of 


336 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


place  of  birth,  at  successive  censuses.  This  gives  us  only 
a very  general  picture  of  the  movement.  Some  of  the 
internal  migration  is  merely  nominal,  as  when  a per- 
son changes  his  residence  from  New  York  to  Jersey  City, 
he  changes  the  state,  or  from  New  York  to  Brooklyn,  he 
changes  his  county,  although  the  movement  is  no  more 
a migration  than  changing  from  down-town  to  up-town 
in  New  York  City.  Much  of  the  interstate  migration  is 
simply  crossing  the  frontier,  and  so  has  no  great  socio- 
logical significance.  Of  course,  when  we  find  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  natives  of  New  York  scattered  through  the 
W estern  states  it  represents  a movement  of  real  importance. 
The  constant  change  of  domicile  in  a large  city  also  has 
sociological  significance,  but  it  is  different  in  character 
from  that  of  foreign  immigration,  or  of  interstate  migra- 
tion. 


Reflective  Analysis. 

In  studying  these  figures  of  the  migration  of  men,  the 
great  question  which  presents  itself  is  as  to  the  effect  of  such 
a movement  upon  the  community.  So  far  as  we  can  answer 
this  question  by  statistics,  emigration  does  not  seem  to 
affect  the  population  of  old  countries.  With  the  excep- 
tion of  Ireland,  wherever  there  is  large  emigration  there  is 
a large  birth-rate,  which  more  than  makes  up  for  it.  This 
gives  rise  to  two  reflections,  viz.,  that  there  is  no  great 
danger  of  emigration  depopulating  any  country  of  Europe, 
and  secondly,  that  emigration  is  not  a cure  for  over-pop- 
ulation. It  has  often  been  discouraged  from  fear  of  the 
first,  and  encouraged  as  a remedy  for  the  second  evil. 
Our  statistics  do  not  show  that  it  accomphshes  either. 
It  may  result  possibly  in  the  abandonment  of  very  sterile 
portions  of  a country,  but  such  abandonment  can  have 
but  little  effect  on  the  real  strength  of  a nation.  It 
inay  temporarily  relieve  congestion  of  population,  as  where 
the  Scottish  crofters  were  removed  from  their  insufficient 


MIGRATION. 


337 


farms  to  America ; but  the  example  of  Ireland  seems  to 
show  that  over-population  may  continue  even  where  emi- 
gration is  continuous  and  active.  Where  emigration  is 
left  to  the  caprice  of  the  individual  it  may  remove  the 
strong  element  in  the  community  and  leave  the  weak,  and 
thus  entirely  fail  to  afford  a permanent  cure.  Emigra- 
tion on  a sufficient  scale  to  really  relieve  over-population 
would  be  very  expensive,  and  would  have  to  be  exercised 
with  such  disregard  of  the  wishes  of  individuals  that  it 
would  be  extremely  difficult.  Such  state-aided  or  state- 
directed  emigration,  which  seeks  to  remove  the  weak  and 
superfluous,  meets  with  bitter  opposition  from  the  new 
countries,  which  do  not  consider  such  additions  to  their 
population  to  be  at  all  desirable.  Emigration,  therefore, 
while  perhaps  temporarily  relieving  the  labour  market,  does 
not  seem  to  have  a very  great  sociological  effect  upon  the 
countries  concerned. 

Immigration,  on  the  other  hand,  constitutes  the  life  his- 
tory, so  to  speak,  of  the  countries  of  the  New  World.  In 
one  sense,  all  the  inliabitants  of  the  United  States  are 
immigrants,  or  the  descendants  of  immigrants.  We 
commonly  draw  the  line  by  calling  the  first  settlers,  who 
founded  the  commonwealth  and  gave  it  their  impress, 
colonists  ; and  designating  the  late-comers,  who  simply 
merge  themselves  into  the  nationality  already  established, 
as  immigrants.  But  even  confining  ourselves  to  this 
latter  class,  the  effect  of  immigration  is  enormous,  because 
it  is  cumulative.  Continuous  immigration  of  people  of 
the  same  nationality,  the  same  character,  the  same  social 
position,  and  the  same  language,  exerts  a continuous  and 
never-ceasing  pressure  upon  the  assimilative  power  of  the 
community.  Immigration  thus  is  a constant  factor  in  the 
growth  of  population  in  the  United  States.  Still  further, 
it  is  a constant  factor  in  determining  the  ethnical  composi- 
tion of  the  population.  Never  in  the  history  of  the 
world  has  there  occurred  a mixture  of  so  many  different 


338 


STATISTICS  AMD  SOCIOLOGY. 


races  and  nationalities,  under  peaceable  conditions,  as  in 
the  United  States. 

The  economic  influence  of  immigration  has  attracted 
much  attention.  The  United  States  owes  much  of  its 
material  prosperity  to  the  labour  force  which  it  has  drawn 
from  Europe.  Of  the  economic  value  of  this  labour  force 
it  is  unnecessary  to  speak.  One  other  question  sometimes 
arises,  viz.,  what  is  the  effect  of  immigration  on  the  Amer- 
ican workman  ? The  number  of  skilled  artisans  among  the 
immigrants  is  so  small  that  direct  competition  would  not 
seem  to  be  very  great.  It  is  true  that,  owing  to  the  factory 
system,  the  unskilled  workmen  apparently  And  places  in 
manufacturing  and  mechanical  industry.  This  is  shovTi 
by  the  statistics  of  the  foreign-born  in  those  occupations. 
The  competition  does  not  seem  to  be  excessive,  and  the 
great  danger  which  is  feared  by  workingmen,  namely,  the 
importation  of  labourers  from  Europe  to  take  the  place  of 
those  on  strike,  is  guarded  against  by  the  Contract  Labour 
Law.  The  most  dangerous  competition  is  from  the  im- 
migration of  labourers  with  a lower  standard  of  Ihdng 
than  the  workmen  of  America  have  been  accustomed  to. 
That  certainly  is  a great  hardship,  and  is  carrying  compe- 
tition to  an  extreme.  Here  is  found  the  excuse  for  the 
prohibition  of  Chinese  immigration.  With  this  in  mind 
we  watch  the  changing  proportion  of  immigration,  which 
is  bringing  us  an  increasing  number  of  persons  with  a low 
standard  of  living  from  Southern  and  Eastern  Europe, 
with  considerable  anxiety. 

The  social  effects  of  immigration  have  already  been 
dwelt  upon.  One  other  thing  might  have  been  adduced 
as  worthy  of  study,  namely,  the  social  effect  upon  the 
immigrants  themselves  of  the  change  to  the  New  World. 
When  we  consider  that  in  some  states  the  immigrants 
and  their  children  constitute  three-fourths  of  the  popula- 
tion, and  that,  notwithstanding  this,  those  states  seem 
to  be  as  American  in  legislation,  in  political  life,  and 


MIGKATION. 


339 


in  public  opinion  as  any  of  the  Union,  the  thought  sug- 
gests itself  that  established  institutions  are  more  power- 
ful in  assimilating  the  foreign  influence  than  immigration 
is  in  changing  native  institutions.  This  is  a question, 
however,  which  still  needs  to  be  worked  out. 

The  final  question  in  regard  to  immigration  is  as  to  the 
character  of  the  phenomenon  itself.  It  clearly  corresponds 
to  the  modern  notion  of  the  absolute  freedom  of  the 
individual.  It  corresponds  also  to  the  economic  doctrine 
of  laissez  faire,  and  to  the  economic  notion  of  the  desira- 
bility of  perfect  mobility  of  labour.  According  to  such 
doctrine,  labour  should  always  be  free  to  seek  the  area  of 
greatest  demand,  which  will  at  the  same  time  be  the  field 
of  greatest  productivity.  Perfect  freedom  of  migration, 
from  this  point  of  view,  is  desirable  because  it  results  in  the 
greatest  productiveness  of  labour,  which  is  beneficial  both 
to  the  individual  and  to  the  world  at  large.  This  is  the 
cosmopolitan  view.  It  regards  emigration  as  a natural 
function  of  modern  society.  The  cause  of  the  movement 
from  Europe  to  America,  according  to  Philippovich,^  is 
that  wages  are  high  and  the  rent  of  land  low  in  America, 
while  wages  are  low  and  the  rent  of  land  high  in  Europe. 
Emigration  will  continue  until  these  differences  are  effaced. 
This  view  of  the  matter  overlooks  all  the  social  effects  of 
immigration,  and  neglects  the  fact  that  the  egoism  of 
nations  will  not  permit  a single  country  to  allow  itself  to 
be  damaged  in  its  social  position  by  mere  cosmopolitan 
considerations.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  statistics  of  the 
social  influence  of  immigration  upon  particular  communi- 
ties are  of  so  much  value  and  interest.  It  is  only  by 
knowing  the  details  that  we  can  gain  an  adequate  notion 
of  the  whole  phenomenon. 

The  statistics  of  immigration  are  of  importance,  there- 
fore, in  directing  the  policy  of  the  state  in  restricting 

1 Eevue  d’feconomie  Politique,  1890,  p.  341. 


340 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY, 


or  encouraging  the  movement.  While  modern  principles 
of  liberty  and  modern  necessities  of  commercial  inter- 
course demand  that  no  unnecessary  restrictions  shall  he 
made,  nevertheless,  it  is  the  plain  duty  of  each  country 
to  guard  its  own  civilization  and  maintain  the  standard 
of  living  of  its  citizens.  The  task  of  statistics  is,  by 
careful  observation  of  the  returns  of  births  and  deaths, 
sickness  and  mortality,  vice  and  crime,  and  other  social 
phenomena,  to  detect  and  measure  the  influence  of  immi- 
gration on  the  culture  and  well-being  of  the  community. 


Book  IV. 

ENVIRONMENT. 

CHAPTER  XV. 

POPULATION  AND  LAND  (PHYSICAL  ENVIRONMENT). 

Sociological  Purpose. 

Population  is  the  central  fact  of  Sociology.  But  popu- 
lation without  land  is  inconceivable,  and  it  goes  without 
saying  that  the  character  of  the  land  is  one  of  the  fun- 
damental conditions  of  human  existence  and  develop- 
ment. Buckle  gave  great  impulse  to  the  notion  that  the 
explanation  of  social  structure  and  evolution  was  to  be 
sought  in  natural  forces.  With  him,  climate,  soil,  food, 
and  the  aspects  of  nature  are  the  primary  causes  of  in- 
tellectual progress,  — “the  first  three  indirectly  through 
determining  the  accumulation  and  distribution  of  wealth, 
and  the  last  by  directly  infiuencing  the  accumulation  and 
distribution  of  thought,  the  imagination  being  stimulated 
and  the  understanding  subdued  when  the  phenomena  of 
the  external  world  are  sublime  and  terrible,  the  under- 
standing emboldened  and  the  imagination  curbed  when 
they  are  small  and  feeble.”  It  cannot  he  said,  however, 
that  Buckle  adduced  any  but  the  most  general  proof  in 
support  of  these  important  propositions. 

341 


342 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


Sociologists  have  largely  followed  his  lead.  Even 
Herbert  Spencer,  although  devoting  his  exposition  prin- 
cipally to  the  internal  factor  of  evolution,  i.e.,  the  charac- 
ter of  the  individual  units,  acknowledges  the  importance 
of  the  external  factors,  namely,  the  conditions  under 
which  the  units  exist.  Among  these,  he  enumerates  cli- 
mate, — hot,  cold,  or  temperate,  moist  or  dry,  constant  or 
variable  ; surface,  multiform  or  uniform,  fertile  or  sterile  ; 
vegetal  products,  abundant  or  deficient  in  quantity  and 
kind  ; the  fauna,  useful  or  destructive  to  man,  -wild  or  do- 
mesticated, etc.  Spencer  despairs  of  giving  any  complete 
outline  of  these  factors  or  of  measuring  their  influence, 
and  consigns  the  task  to  the  future  students  of  descriptive 
sociology  to  work  out  the  details  for  each  country. 

In  the  same  way  the  philosophical  historians  have  ex- 
plained peculiarities  of  national  development  by  reference 
to  the  physical  characteristics  of  the  country  occupied 
by  a particular  nation.  We  have  often  heard  that  the 
commercial  spirit  of  the  Greek  cities  was  due  to  the 
indented  sea-coast  of  their  peninsula  and  the  mountain 
barriers  of  the  interior  ; that  Swiss  independence  was 
preserved  in  her  mountain  fastnesses  ; and  that  England’s 
constitutional  development  was  made  easy  by  her  insular 
position  protecting  her  from  invasion. 

Sociologist  and  historian  have  an  important  fleld  for 
investigation  in  this  influence  of  the  physical  environment 
upon  the  development  of  nations  and  communities.  The 
question  for  us  is  whether  statistics  can  be  of  any  aid  in 
the  investigation. 

The  limitations  are  at  once  clear.  It  is  evident  that 
statistics  cannot  give  us  any  information  as  to  the  influ- 
ence of  these  external  factors  upon  primitive  man  and 
early  civilization,  simply  because  we  have  no  statistics. 
But  in  our  modern  societies  the  influence  of  external  fac- 
tors is  very  much  involved  with  social  influences,  so  that 
we  cannot  disengage  it.  Statistics,  therefore,  can  only 


POPULATION  AND  LAND. 


343 


use  the  method  of  comparison.  We  can  arrange  the 
population  according  to  the  natural  characteristics  of  the 
land,  and  see  if  any  influence  is  to  he  traced.  No  very 
precise  results  can  he  looked  for,  in  the  sense  of  general 
laws  showing  the  connection  between  population  and  land. 
We  may,  indeed,  hy  special  study  of  particular  countries, 
sometimes  notice  the  influence  of  the  natural  factor  in 
determining  the  distribution  of  population  in  a growing 
community,  in  directing  the  course  of  immigration,  or  in 
determining  the  distribution  of  races,  — as,  for  instance,  the 
negroes  and  whites,  the  Scandinavians  and  Germans  in 
the  United  States,  the  Italians  in  North  and  South  Amer- 
ica. The  sociological  purpose  of  statistics,  therefore,  is 
to  arrange  the  data  in  such  a way  as  to  show  the  influ- 
ence of  land  and  natural  forces  upon  population  and  its 
distribution. 


Statistical  Data. 

The  general  distribution  of  population  is  indicated  by 
its  average  density,  f.e.,  we  divide  the  number  of  people  by 
the  number  of  square  miles,  or  of  square  kilometers,  con- 
stituting the  area  of  the  territory.  This  shows  the  aver- 
age density  for  large  divisions  like  continents,  then  for 
political  divisions  like  states,  then  for  minor  political  divi- 
sions, such  as  provinces,  counties,  communes,  etc.  All 
of  these  are  more  or  less  arbitrary,  except  as  political  divi- 
sions have  been  laid  out  on  natural  lines.  We  can  still 
further  take  the  physical  geography  of  any  country  and 
arrange  the  population  according  to  physical  character- 
istics, such  as  mountain  or  valley,  altitude,  lines  of  equal 
temperature,  character  of  the  soil,  and  rainfall.  The 
arrangement  by  political  divisions  is  very  often  useful  in 
studying  the  constitution  of  the  population  of  each  coun- 
try. The  arrangement  by  physical  characteristics  is  the 
more  direct  attempt  to  study  the  relation  between  popula- 
tion and  land.  We  shall  take  them  up  in  this  order. 


344 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


Tlie  general  relation  of  population  to  land  area  for  the 
different  portions  of  the  world  is  shown  by  the  following 
table : ^ 


Population. 

Area  in  Square 
Miles. 

Density  per 
Square  Mile. 

Europe  . . . 

. . 357,379,000 

3,742,254 

95.4 

Asia  .... 

. . 825,954,000 

17,043,497 

49.2 

Africa  .... 

. . 163,953,000 

11,276,872 

12.9 

America  . . . 

. . 121,713,000 

14,800,810 

7.7 

Australia  . . . 

. . 3,230,000 

2,971,322 

1.08 

Oceanic  islands . 

. . 7,420,000 

730,000 

10.2 

Polar  regions  . 

. . 80,000 

1,724,678 

Total  . . . 

. 1,479,729,000 

52,299,433 

28.3 

These  figures  are  of  very  little  value,  because  with  such 
a wide  extent  of  territory  the  average  density  gives  no 
indication  of  the  relation  of  population  to  land.  In  the 
same  continent  vast  tracts  of  land  may  he  almost  unin- 
habited, while  others  are  densely  populated.  In  Asia, 
for  instance,  China  has  233  inhabitants,  and  India  197,  per 
square  mile  ; while  Siberia  has  only  0.77.  India  contains 
one-fifth  of  the  whole  human  race  on  3 per  cent  of  the 
earth’s  surface;  while  America  contains  8.2  per  cent  on 
28.2  per  cent  of  territory. 

Density  in  Europe.  We  reach  somewhat  better  results 
if  we  take  a continent  where  conditions  of  living  are 
more  or  less  alike  for  different  parts,  and  calculate  the 


density  for  sections  and 

countries,  as  in  the 

following 

table  : 

Population. 

Density  per 

I.  Central  Europe  . . . 

....  105,851,000 

Square  Mile. 
207 

Germany  .... 

....  49,424,135 

235 

Austria-Hungary  . . 

....  41,284,966 

171 

Switzerland  .... 

....  2,933,334 

186 

Holland 

357 

Belgium 

536 

1 Wagner  und  Supan,  Die  Bevdlkenmg  der  Erde,  Petennann’s  MiU 
teilungen,  Erganzungsheft,  No.  101.  The  figures  are  reproduced  in  Allg. 
Stat.  Archiv,  II.,  324. 


POPULATION  AND  LAND. 


345 


Population.  Density  per 
Square  Mile. 

II.  Northwest  Europe 46,847,000  106 

Denmark 2,172,205  148 

Sweden 4,774,409  28 

Norway 1,999,176  15 

Great  Britain  and  Ireland  . . . 37,888,152  321 

III.  Southwest  Europe 90,157,000  166 

Prance 38,218,903  183 

Spain 17,246,688  90 

Portugal 4,306,554  124 

Italy 30,158,408  272 

IV.  Southeast  Europe 18,482,000  90 

Greece 2,217,000  88 

European  Turkey 5,600,000  83 

Servia 2,157,477  116 

Koumania 5,000,000  98 

V.  East  Europe 96,042,000  47 

European  Russia 93,703,331  49 

Finland 2,338,404  15 


Even  here  the  divisions  are  too  large,  but  we  begin  to 
detect  the  region  of  densest  population.  Central  Europe 
is  the  most  dense,  then  Southwest  Europe,  then  Northwest 
Europe.  If  we  take  each  of  these  in  turn  we  find  the 
densest  population  in  Belgium,  Holland,  and  Germany 
for  Central  Europe;  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  for  North- 
west Europe;  and  Italy  for  Southwest  Europe.  In  other 
words,  there  is  a great  central  tract,  commencing  with  Italy, 
and  extending  through  Germany,  Belgium,  and  Holland 
to  Great  Britain,  which  is  the  area  of  the  densest  popula- 
tion. Further  analysis  will  define  this  area  a little  more 
precisely.  For  instance,  if  we  take  Italy  by  provinces  we 
shall  find  density  increasing  from  the  south  to  the  north, 
culminating  in  the  valley  of  the  Po.  The  single  excep- 
tion to  this  is  the  province  of  Campania,  which  has  a heavy 
density,  due  to  the  city  of  Naples. 

In  Germany  the  results  are  not  quite  so  clear.  Saxony 
is  the  most  densely  populated  of  all  the  states  of  the 
empire.  Yet  if  we  take  the  other  states  we  shall  find 
that  those  portions  lying  in  the  west,  towards  the  valley 


346 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


of  the  Rhine,  have  the  densest  population.  The  average 
density  of  population  in  Bavaria  is  191.65  per  square  mile  ; 
while  in  the  Palatinate  it  is  318.5.  In  Baden  it  is  284.8  per 
square  mile  ; while  for  the  district  of  Carlsruhe  it  is  448.3, 
and  for  Mannheim,  332.2.  In  Prussia  the  population  has 
a density  of  223  per  square  mile;  while  in  the  Rhine 
province  it  is  452.1,  and  in  Westphalia,  311.4.  In  Ger- 
many, therefore,  outside  of  Saxony,  the  line  of  dense 
population  follows  the  valley  of  the  Rhine. ^ 

Belgium  and  Holland  continue  this  line  of  dense  popula- 
tion, which  then  extends  into  Great  Britain.  In  the  latter 
country  England  is  the  most  densely  populated,  = 540.7 
per  square  mile;  while  Wales  has  only  206.3,  Ireland  only 
144,  and  Scotland  135.  In  England  itself,  it  is  the  middle 
and  southeast  counties  which  show  the  densest  population. 

We  thus  constitute  a line  of  dense  population,  beginning 
with  the  plains  of  Lombardy,  extending  down  the  valley 
of  the  Rhine,  through  Belgium  and  Holland,  to  the  south- 
east and  middle  counties  of  England.  There  are  centres 
of  population  outside  of  this  tract,  such  as  Naples,  Saxony, 
and  Paris,  but  there  is  nothing  so  continuous.  This  analy- 
sis evidently  points  to  the  influence  of  rich  valleys  and 
plains  as  the  most  attractive  places  for  population.  This 
is  supplemented  by  the  development  of  industry  due  to  the 
presence  of  coal  and  iron,  as  in  Belgium  and  the  middle 
counties  of  England,  and  by  commercial  advantages  pos- 
sessed by  such  places  as  Antwerp,  London,  and  Liverpool. 

The  United  States.  If  we  divide  the  United  States 
into  sections,  as  we  divided  Eui’ope  into  countries,  we  get 
the  folloAving  results  : 

Density  per 
Square  Mile. 


The  United  States 21.31 

North  Atlantic  division 107.37 

South  Atlantic  division 32.98 

North  Central  division 29.68 

South  Central  division 18.94 

Western  division 2.58 


1 The  Statesman’s  Year-Book,  1893. 


POPULATION  AND  LAND. 


347 


It  is  evident  that  only  in  the  first  division  have  we  any- 
thing like  the  population  adequate  to  the  territory.  In 
the  others  there  must  either  he  vast  spaces  unoccupied  or 
the  country  must  be  undeveloped. 

If  we  take  the  states  in  each  division  we  gain  a little 
more  definite  distribution.  In  the  North  Atlantic  division 
(the  New  England  states,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and 
Pennsylvania)  the  states  group  themselves  as  follows: 

Vermont ....  36.39  New  Hampshire  41.81  Maine  ....  22.11 

Connecticut  . .154.03  Rhode  Island  . 318.44  Massachusetts  . 278.48 
New  Jersey  . . 193.82 

New  York  . . 125.95 

Pennsylvania  . 116.88 

The  centre  of  population  here  seems  to  be  in  Rhode 
Island,  with  Massachusetts  on  the  east,  Connecticut  on  the 
west,  and  continuing  down  the  coast.  It  is  evident  that 
industry  and  commerce  are  the  causes  of  the  density  of 
population  in  this  tract,  causes  which  are  lacking  in  the 
three  northern  New  England  states. 

It  is  useless  to  examine  the  states  in  the  other  divisions 
for  the  purpose  of  finding  a law  of  distribution.  No  other 
state  in  the  Union  equals  those  first  mentioned  above  in 
density  of  population.  Maryland  with  105  and  Delaware 
with  86  inhabitants  to  the  square  mile  continue  the  tract  of 
density  down  the  Atlantic  coast,  but  it  grows  less  and 
less  as  we  go  south,  where  it  is  only  between  30  and  40. 
If  we  look  at  the  North  Central  division,  the  heavy  popula- 
tion is  continued  to  a certain  extent  by  Ohio  (90  to  square 
mile),  Indiana  (61),  and  Illinois  (68  to  square  mile)  ; 
but  then  descends  in  every  direction  until  we  reach  the 
light  population  of  the  South,  Louisiana  (24  to  square 
mile),  the  sparse  settlements  of  the  Northwest,  Minne- 
sota (16),  and  the  practically  unsettled  regions  of  the 
West,  Arizona  (0.63)  and  Montana  (0.91).  A few  settled 
spots  on  the  Pacific  coast  form  an  exception  to  this  rule. 
We  have,  therefore,  in  the  United  States  a central  tract, 
namely,  a short  strip  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard  from  Massa- 


348 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


chusetts  to  Maryland,  and  extending  west  through  Ohio, 
Indiana,  and  Illinois  to  the  Mississippi  River.  From  this 
central  tract  population  descends  in  every  direction. 

In  the  United  States  the  territory  is  so  large,  and  the 
divisions  by  states  have  so  little  relation  to  the  natural 
features  of  the  land,  that  the  distribution  of  population 
can  be  shown  by  purely  mathematical  divisions.  If  we 
divide  the  country  into  zones,  formed  by  the  successive 
parallels  of  latitude,  and  estimate  the  number  of  people 
living  in  each,  we  shall  find  that  more  than  one-half 
of  the  people  inhabit  the  zone  between  the  39th  and 
43rd  degrees  of  latitude.  This  is  the  great  belt  bounded 
on  the  Atlantic  sea-coast  by  Boston  on  the  north  and 
Baltimore  on  the  south,  and  stretching  through  the  states 
of  Pennsylvania,  New  York,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Mis- 
souri, and  Kansas.  In  the  middle  of  this  belt  is  a cen- 
tral one  between  the  40th  and  41st  degrees  of  latitude, 
containing  nearly  16  per  cent  of  the  population,  with  a 
density  of  53.5  to  the  square  mile,  thence  shading  off  north 
and  south.  There  are  several  reasons  whj^  this  belt  of 
territory  contains  the  greatest  population.  One  is  purely 
geographical,  namely,  it  is  the  longest  zone  contained 
wholly  in  the  United  States.  The  belts  south  of  it  are 
shorter,  while  north  the  continuity  is  interrupted  by  the 
Great  Lakes  and  Canada.  Another  reason  is  that,  acci- 
dentally, almost  all  the  large  cities,  such  as  Boston,  New 
York,  Brooklyn,  Philadelpliia,  Chicago,  St.  Louis,  and  San 
Francisco,  fall  within  it.  Economically,  population  is  dense 
in  this  belt  because  of  the  iron  and  coal  in  Pennsylvania, 
the  commercial  advantages  of  the  sea-coast,  and  the  fer- 
tility of  the  Ohio  and  Missouri  valleys.  Politically  also, 
the  stream  of  immigration  was  for  many  years  kept 
north  of  39  degrees  by  the  institution  of  slavery.  Thus 
the  stream  of  settlement  passed  through  the  Alleghenies, 
and  pushed  either  along  the  southern  shore  of  Lake  Erie, 
or  down  the  Ohio  River,  and  later  up  the  Missomd. 


POPULATION  AND  LAND. 


349 


A similar  distribution  of  population  may  be  made  by 
degrees  of  longitude,  but  there  is  no  such  concentration 
as  in  latitude.  One  reason  is  that  the  belts  of  longitude 
are  shorter  and  traverse  portions  of  the  country  varying 
in  fertility.  A more  important  reason  is  that,  owing  to 
the  trend  of  the  Atlantic  seaboard  from  the  northeast  to 
the  southwest,  the  commercial  population  and  the  large 
cities  fall  into  different  belts.  Hence  the  largest  con- 
centration of  population,  lying  between  the  73rd  and  74th 
degrees  of  longitude,  due  principally  to  the  presence  of  the 
cities  of  New  York  and  Brooklyn,  and  having  a density 
of  249.5  to  the  square  mile,  comprises  only  5.8  per  cent 
of  the  total  population. 

Distribution  of  Population  by  Topographical  Features. 
The  general  distribution  of  population  which  we  have 
studied  hitherto  shows  but  little  connection  with  the 
land,  because  it  is  too  vague.  We  must  endeavour  to  get 
a more  precise  comparison.  The  most  common  method 
is  to  distribute  population  in  accordance  with  topographi- 
cal features,  i.e.,  mountain  and  valley,  hillside  and  plain, 
drainage  basins,  sea-coast  and  interior.  Such  features  have 
obvious  influence  on  population,  which  tends  naturally  to 
congregate  in  valleys,  because  they  are  fertile,  protected 
from  extremes  of  temperature,  and  the  centres  of  com- 
merce. Rivers  are  the  natural  highways  into  new  coun- 
tries ; hence  population  gathers  first  about  them,  and  cities 
are  planted  on  their  banks.  The  shores  of  oceans  are  at- 
tractive on  account  of  commercial  advantages,  and  a broken 
coast-line  and  good  harbours  encourage  settlement,  while 
an  unbroken  coast-line  discourages  it.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  mountains  are  barren,  cold,  and  inaccessible. 
For  that  reason  they  become  the  refuge  of  conquered 
peoples  and  the  fortress  of  independent  tribes ; but  they 
never  support  a large  population.  We  have  abundant 
examples  in  history  of  these  general  influences.  The 
valleys  of  the  Nile,  the  Euphrates,  and  the  Tigris  were 


350 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


the  early  seats  of  civilization.  The  cities  of  Greece  flour- 
ished for  the  most  part  along  the  coast.  The  mediseval 
Italian  cities  and  the  German  free  cities  were  mostly 
either  on  navigable  rivers  or  on  the  coast.  The  history 
of  the  United  States  gives  us  a striking  example  of  the 
influence  of  rivers  and  valleys  upon  the  growth  of  popu- 
lation. When  the  first  census  was  taken  in  1790,  95  per 
cent  of  the  population  was  on  the  Atlantic  seaboard.  The 
average  depth  of  settlement,  in  a direction  at  right  angles 
to  the  coast,  was  255  miles.  From  that  time  on  it  began 
to  extend  westward,  following  three  lines  of  march,  — one 
up  the  valley  of  the  Mohawk,  the  second  over  the  Alle- 
ghenies in  Pennsylvania  to  the  head  waters  of  the  Ohio, 
and  the  third  from  Virginia  southwestward  down  the 
great  Appalachian  valley  into  Kentucky  and  Tennessee. 
The  westward  growth  for  many  years  continued  on  these 
lines.  The  principal  stream  of  population  pushed  down  the 
Ohio  River  to  its  junction  with  the  Mississippi,  and  then 
spreading  north  and  south  pushed  up  the  Missouri,  the 
Arkansas,  and  the  Red  River.  Even  since  the  budding  of 
railroads  the  stream  of  population  has  followed  the  valleys, 
because  the  radroads  were  laid  in  them;  and,  since  1860, 
population  has  extended  itself  in  great  tongues  across  the 
western  plains. 

The  census  of  the  United  States  has  attempted  to 
distribute  population  in  various  ways,  according  to  topo- 
graphical features.  For  this  purpose  the  whole  country  is 
divided  into  areas  differing  in  the  character  of  their  surface, 
their  products,  and  their  climate,  and  the  population  is 
classified  therewith.  There  are  not  less  than  21  of  these 
divisions,  extending  from  the  swamps  of  the  Atlantic  coast 
to  the  mountain  ranges  of  the  Pacific.  The  divisions  are 
so  numerous  that  the  results  are  very  indefinite.  It  seems, 
however,  that,  in  1890,  2.8  per  cent  of  the  population 
inhabited  the  coast  swamps  ; 14  per  cent,  the  Atlantic 
plain  ; 12.5  per  cent,  the  upland  country  of  the  Ade- 


POPULATION  ANT)  LAND. 


351 


ghenies  called  the  Piedmont  region  ; 18  per  cent,  the 
interior  timbered  region  ; and  20.8  per  cent,  the  prairie 
region.  This  distribution  shows  the  growing  dominance 
of  the  interior  agricultural  region  over  the  sea-coast. 

The  census  of  1890  has  distributed  population  also 
according  to  altitude  above  the  sea-level,  as  is  shown  in 
the  following  table  : 


Altitude.  Per  Cent  of 

Population. 

Below  100  feet 16.5 

100  to  500  feet 22.0 

500  to  1000  feet 38.2 

1000  to  1500  feet 15.0 

Over  1500  feet 8.0 


This  is  an  interesting  distribution  when  we  remember 
that  the  first  category  (below  100  feet)  comprises  the 
commercial  population  of  the  sea-coast  ; that  the  second 
(100  to  500  feet)  comprises  the  Southern  states  and 
the  lower  Mississippi  valley,  largely  a cotton-growing 
region  with  some  corn  and  tobacco  ; that  the  third  com- 
prises the  great  agricultural  and  industrial  region  of  the 
West;  and  that  the  fourth  (1000  to  1500  feet)  is  the 
grain-producing  country  of  the  Northwest.  W e see,  there- 
fore, population  adjusting  itself  to  the  economic  resources 
of  the  country.  The  distribution  of  the  various  elements 
in  the  population  shows  that  the  heaviest  coneentration 
of  the  foreign-born  is  in  the  prairie  region  ; but  of  the 
coloured  is  in  the  region  from  100  to  500  feet. 

Distribution  of  Population  according  to  Temperature^ 
Rainfall,  Humidity,  and  Character  of  the  Soil.  These  are 
all  faets  connected  closely  with  the  topographical  features. 
Temperature  has  both  a direct  influence  upon  human 
life  and  an  indirect  through  its  effect  on  the  economic 
resources  at  the  disposal  of  man.  The  mean  annual 
temperature  of  the  United  States  is  53  degrees  ; more 
than  half  the  population  lives  under  a temperature  between 
45  and  55  degrees,  and  about  75  per  eent  under  a tempera- 


352 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY, 


ture  between  45  and  60  degrees.  The  greatest  density  is 
where  it  ranges  from  50  to  55  degrees.  The  people  of 
the  United  States,  therefore,  enjoy  a temperate  climate. 

In  regard  to  rainfall,  the  average  annual  rainfall  upon 
the  surface  of  the  United  States  is  29.6  inches.  But  the 
main  body  of  the  population  of  the  country  inhabits  a 
region  in  which  the  annual  rainfall  is  between  30  and  50 
inches,  three-fourths  of  the  inhabitants  or  thereabouts 
being  found  there.  On  either  side,  as  the  rainfall  increases 
or  diminishes,  the  population  diminishes  rapidly.  The 
greatest  density  of  population  is  in  the  area  enjoying 
from  40  to  50  inches  of  annual  rainfall,  the  average  of  this 
region  being  59  inhabitants  to  the  square  mile.  Next  to 
this  is  the  area  having  from  30  to  40  inches,  where  the  den- 
sity is  43.1.  The  average  annual  rainfall  with  relation  to 
the  population,  deduced  by  giving  weight  to  each  area 
of  country  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  its  inhabitants, 
which  in  1870  was  42.5  inches,  had  diminished  in  1890  to 
41.4  inches,  the  diminution  being  caused  mainly  by  the 
settlement  of  the  great  plains  and  the  arid  regions  of  the 
West. 

By  the  relative  humidity  of  the  atmosphere  is  to  be  un- 
derstood the  amount  of  moisture  contained  in  it  in  propor- 
tion to  the  amount  required  to  saturate  it.  The  amount, 
of  course,  varies  with  the  temperature,  — the  higher  the 
temperature,  the  greater  the  amount  of  moisture  which 
it  is  capable  of  holding  in  solution.  In  the  United  States 
it  seems  that  36.67  per  cent  of  the  population  breathe  an 
atmosphere  containing  65  to  70  per  cent  of  its  full  capac- 
ity of  moisture  ; and  54.4  per  cent  breathe  an  atmos- 
phere containing  70  to  75  per  cent  of  its  full  capacity  of 
moisture.  The  tendency  is  towards  increase  of  population 
in  the  more  arid  regions.  This  general  analysis  is  not  of 
much  consequence,  but  may  lead  to  a more  precise  local 
analysis  showing  the  effect  of  humidity  upon  diseases. 

The  character  of  the  soil,  especially  whether  it  is  clay  or 


POPULATION  AND  LAND, 


353 


gravel,  affecting  the  drainage  and  the  heat-absorbing  capac- 
ity of  the  country,  has  very  important  influence  upon  the 
health  and  economic  well-being  of  the  inhabitants.  It 
would  be  manifestly  impossible,  however,  except  after  a 
geological  survey  of  the  utmost  minuteness,  to  distribute 
the  population  according  to  the  character  of  the  soil.  It 
has  been  done  for  certain  localities  with  particular  reference 
to  mortality  and  disease. 

Scientific  Tests. 

It  is  evident  that  no  relation  between  land  and  density 
of  population  can  give  us  any  scientific  results,  unless  our 
system  of  distribution  is  accurate  enough  to  show  some 
correspondence  between  the  number  of  people  per  square 
mile  and  the  character  of  the  territory.  It  is  for  this 
reason  that  the  average  density  of  population  for  very 
large  regions,  such  as  continents,  is  entirely  worthless. 
In  such  cases  the  average  density  becomes  a mere  mathe- 
matical average,  not  true  of  any  portion  of  the  territory, 
and  very  far  from  the  truth  for  many  portions.  The 
example  already  given  of  the  average  density  for  Asia 
shows  that  it  is  equally  far  from  indicating  the  density  of 
China  and  India  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  sparseness  of 
settlement  in  Siberia  on  the  other.  A second  example  is 
the  United  States.  The  total  area  of  the  United  States 
is  3,025,600  square  miles,  which  gives  an  average  density 
of  20.7  persons  to  the  square  mile.  But  of  this  territory 
only  1,947,280  square  miles  are  actually  settled,  giving  a 
density  of  32.1, 

Even  in  such  a country  as  England,  the  concentration  of 
industry  in  particular  places  makes  the  average  density  of 
population  for  the  whole  country  more  or  less  fictitious. 
The  county  of  Stafford,  for  instance,  shows  an  average 
density  of  926.5  per  square  mile,  while  Hereford  shows 
only  139.2,  the  average  for  all  England  being  540.7.  The 
great  differences  for  different  parts  of  the  United  States 

2a 


354 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


we  have  already  spoken  of.  Even  in  a single  state  like 
Massachusetts,  the  eastern  counties  partake  of  the  density 
of  industrial  and  commercial  Rhode  Island,  while  the 
country  towns  of  the  northwest  partake  of  the  rural 
character  of  Vermont. 

It  is  an  important  question,  therefore,  how  small  the 
subdivisions  should  be  in  order  to  calculate  the  averagfe 
density.  The  answer  is  that  it  depends  upon  the  actual 
circumstances.  Where  population  is  more  or  less  evenly 
distributed  over  a whole  county,  province,  or  state,  such 
division  may  be  taken  as  the  unit.  Where,  however,  the 
population  tends  to  agglomerate  in  one  portion  of  such 
territory,  smaller  subdivisions  will  be  necessary.  The 
work  is  facilitated  by  the  construction  of  cartograms, 
showing  by  different  colours  or  successive  tmts  of  the  same 
colour,  the  different  degrees  of  density  of  population  over 
a certain  territory.  The  abrupt  transition  from  one  tint  to 
another,  in  passing  from  one  division  to  another,  is  e\d- 
dently  false  to  nature.  Whenever  such  transition  dis- 
closes itself  as  too  abrupt,  recourse  must  be  had  to  further 
subdivisions.  The  general  effect  of  the  cartogram  will 
be  to  reveal  to  the  eye  any  concentration  of  population 
where  such  exists. 

The  second  scientific  obstacle  in  bringing  the  distribu- 
tion of  population  into  juxtaposition  with  the  character  of 
the  soil  is  the  disturbing  effect  of  great  cities.  If  the 
population  of  a great  city  is  averaged  with  that  of  the 
county  or  province  in  which  it  lies,  we  get  an  average 
which  is  typical  neither  of  the  urban  nor  of  the  rural 
portion  of  the  district.  For  instance,  if  the  popiilation  of 
the  city  of  Berlin  is  included  in  that  of  the  pro^fince  of 
Brandenburg,  we  get  an  average  density  for  the  whole 
province  of  103.3  per  square  kilometer,  which  is  not  very 
much  in  excess  of  that  of  the  whole  German  empire, 
namely,  91.5  per  square  kilometer.  It  is  absurd  to  take 
this  figure  as  typical  of  a city  population,  while  it  is 


POPULATION  AND  LAND, 


355 


equally  absurd  to  suppose  that  the  rural  parts  of  the  prov- 
ince of  Brandenburg  have  a density  exceeding  that  of  the 
empire  at  large.  It  is  customary,  therefore,  in  calculating 
the  density  of  population  for  the  purpose  of  constructing 
cartograms,  to  cut  out  the  large  cities  and  indicate  their 
presence  by  dark  circles  or  spaces.  This  eliminates  the 
disturbing  effect,  at  least  to  a certain  extent. 

It  sometimes  happens  that  the  distribution  of  population 
is  controlled  by  reasons  which  are  purely  political  or  his- 
torical in  their  nature.  When  these  are  known  they  must 
be  taken  notice  of  by  statistics.  We  have  already  given 
one  instance  of  how  the  institution  of  slavery  kept  immi- 
gration and  the  movement  of  free  labour  north  of  Mason 
and  Dixon’s  line.  Any  one  examining  the  map  of  popula- 
tion of  the  United  States  for  1820  and  1830  would  be  struck 
by  the  abrupt  cessation  of  the  inhabited  territory  in  west- 
ern Georgia,  although  the  whole  southwestern  Mississippi 
valley  was  already  peopled.  The  explanation  is,  that  the 
Cherokee  and  Creek  Indians  had  not  yet  been  removed. 
In  1840,  population  had  covered  the  vacant  spaces.  For 
many  years  the  line  of  population  on  our  Western  frontier 
was  determined  by  similar  considerations.^ 

The  distribution  of  population  according  to  topograph- 
ical features  must  be  used  with  care,  because  it  is  obvi- 
ous that  a great  variety  of  influences  may  be  present 
to  counterbalance  the  one  we  are  studying.  The 
distribution  by  altitude  is  of  interest,  only  as  altitude 
determines  other  things,  such  as  climate,  and  especially 
the  agricultural  resources  of  the  country.  It  is  not  the 
altitude  that  attracts  population,  but  simply  that  at  that 
altitude  the  soil  will  produce  the  means  of  sustaining 
life. 

In  some  cases  we  even  seem  in  danger  of  confusing  ante- 
cedent and  consequent.  For  instance,  in  the  matter  of 

1 See  the  maps  of  density  of  population  at  each  census.  Eleventh  Cen- 
sus of  the  United  States,  Vol.  I.,  Population. 


356 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


rainfall,  a great  proportion  of  the  population  enjoyed  a 
lighter  rainfall  in  1890  than  in  1870.  This  does  not 
show,  however,  that  heavy  rainfall  has  retarded  the 
increase  of  population  or  that  population  has  deserted 
the  regions  of  heavy  rainfall.  It  means  simply  that  the 
extension  of  population  into  the  arid  regions  of  the 
West  makes  the  average  rainfall  less  for  the  people  of 
the  United  States.  This  decrease  of  rainfall  relatively  to 
population  does  not  show  a preference  on  the  part  of  the 
people,  or  an  influence  of  the  rainfall  itself,  but  simply  the 
historical  fact  that  the  East  was  settled  before  the  West. 

When  we  consider  all  these  statistical  tests  together,  we 
shall  see,  that  before  we  can  reason  in  regard  to  the  rela- 
tion between  population  and  laud  we  must  demand  (1) 
that  the  subdivisions  be  sufficiently  minute  ; (2)  that 
political  reasons  be  taken  account  of ; (3)  that  large 
cities  be  eliminated  ; (4)  that  peculiarities  of  race  be 
taken  account  of  ; and  (5)  that  care  be  exercised  not  to 
confuse  antecedent  and  consequent,  or  to  regard  as  an 
influence  of  nature  what  is  merely  an  accident  of  his- 
tory. The  consideration  of  these  things  will  show  us 
that  it  is  only  by  particular  and  minute  study  that  statis- 
tics is  able  to  accomplish  anything  in  this  direction. 

Reflective  Analysis. 

How  far  can  the  statistics  of  distribution  be  said  to 
contribute  an  answer  to  the  question  of  the  influence  of 
physical  environment  upon  population? 

Statistics  show  us,  in  a large  way  and  on  a grand  scale, 
the  general  influence  of  land,  climate,  and  natural  forces 
upon  population.  The  plains  attract,  the  mountains  re- 
pel. Cold  regions  are  unpopulated ; moist  and  warm 
climates  are  fatal  to  human  life.  Commercial  position 
attracts  cities ; navigable  rivers  are  natural  highways 
and  are  utilized  in  the  migrations  of  the  human  race ; 
an  indented  sea-coast  is  favourable  to  settlement  and  colo- 


POPULATION  AND  LAND, 


357 


nization.  Statistics  confirm  the  general  observations  of 
history.  Levasseur,  after  a long  survey  of  the  topogra- 
phy of  France  and  the  history  of  its  population,  says  that 
at  all  periods  Paris  has  been  the  attractive  pole,  and  the 
mountainous  region  of  South  France  the  repulsive  pole 
of  population.  ^ 

But  it  is  absurd  to  seek  by  statistics  a direct  mathemati- 
cal relation  between  population  and  land.  The  popula- 
tion of  a country  is  not  dense  exactly  in  accordance  with 
its  topography.  Plains  do  not  always  have  a dense  popula- 
tion, and  mountains  are  not  always  barren.  Population 
does  not  increase  or  decrease  regularly,  according  to  dis- 
tance from  a certain  parallel  of  latitude  or  longitude. 
There  is  no  direct  proportion  between  the  degrees  of 
temperature  or  inches  of  rainfall,  and  the  number  of 
inhabitants  in  a certain  district.  In  this  respect  many 
of  the  statistics  distributing  population  according  to  topo- 
graphical features  or  natural  relations,  such  as  those  of  the 
Tenth  and  Eleventh  Census  of  the  United  States,  are  the 
merest  vanity.  One  searches  in  vain  in  these  elaborate 
tables  for  any  illumination.  Such  influences  are  not 
direct,  but  indirect.  Altitude,  temperature,  rainfall,  influ- 
ence population  because  they  affect  the  economic  resources 
necessary  for  population.  We  must  always  remember 
that  economy  is  the  basis  of  social  organization.  The 
economic  is  the  fundamental  side  of  civilization.  Natural 
forces  control  human  life  in  this  way.  Statistics,  by  show- 
ing the  distribution  of  population,  discloses  the  harmony 
between  population  and  nature  which  is  mediated  by 
economic  relations  ; and  these  are,  on  the  one  side,  the 
result  of  natural  forces,  and  on  the  other,  the  conditions 
of  human  existence. 

W e must  also  remember,  in  studying  the  distribution  of 
population,  that  there  are  commonly  many  influences  at 
work,  some  of  them  economic,  others  historical  and  politi- 
1 La  France  et  ses  colonies,  I.,  p.  15. 


358 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


cal ; and  that  it  is  often  extremely  difficult  to  disentangle 
them.  We  ought,  therefore,  to  expect  from  statistics,  not 
exact  data,  but  only  general  indications  of  the  influence 
of  natural  forces.  The  density  of  population  in  England, 
for  example,  is  due  partly  to  the  richness  of  its  soil,  partly 
to  its  mineral  resources,  and  partly  to  its  commercial 
advantages  ; hut  it  is  due  also  in  part  to  its  insular  position, 
which  has  given  it  peace  and  stable  government  for  gener- 
ations, and  to  the  energy  and  enterprise  of  its  inhabitants, 
which  have  made  the  little  island  the  centre  of  a world 
empire.  It  is  impossible  for  statistics  to  disentangle  these 
different  influences.  It  can  only  confirm  the  observations 
of  history.  Who  could  explain  that  oasis  of  population,  in 
the  great  Western  plain  of  the  United  States,  called  Utah, 
if  he  did  not  know  the  history  of  the  Mormons?  Why 
shoxfld  the  sterile  mountain-tops  of  Nevada  be  populated? 
might  be  asked  by  one  who  did  not  know  the  history  of 
gold  and  silver  mining.  The  coast  swamps  of  the  United 
States  would  probably  be  uninhabited,  did  not  the  popu- 
lation of  the  United  States  include  a large  proportion  of 
negroes,  who  are  proof  against  pestilential  fevers.  Race 
explains,  in  tliis  case,  what  physical  geography  would 
leave  inexplicable. 

Finally,  we  must  remember  that  all  these  natural  influ- 
ences are  much  more  powerful  over  primitive  than  over 
civilized  man.  As  Spencer  says,  “The  earlier  stages 
of  social  evolution  are  far  more  dependent  on  local  condi- 
tions than  the  later  stages.  Those  societies  such  as  we 
are  most  familiar  with,  highly  organized,  rich  in  appli- 
ances, advanced  in  knowledge,  can,  by  the  help  of  various 
artifices,  thrive  in  unfavourable  habitats ; yet  feeble,  rm- 
organized  societies  cannot  do  so  : they  are  at  the  mercy 
of  their  natural  surroundings.”  Spencer  finds  here,  also, 
the  explanation  of  the  fact  that  so  many  tribes  of  savages 
have  made  no  manifest  progress  during  the  long  period 
over  which  human  records  extend.  Statistics  observes 


POPULATION  AND  LAND. 


359 


man  only  in  an  advanced  state  of  civilization,  when  he 
has  been  able  to  free  himself  to  a certain  extent  from  the 
influence  of  natural  forces,  or  at  least  to  neutralize  them. 
By  clothing  and  improved  shelter  man  habituates  himself 
to  almost  any  climate,  and  by  sanitary  knowledge  he 
makes  places  formerly  uninhabitable  safe  for  human  life. 
In  pursuit  of  wealth,  of  political  independence,  of  religious 
freedom,  he  will  risk  exposures  which  would  seem  to 
be  entirely  umiecessary.  By  improved  methods  of 
agriculture  man  often  renders  districts,  formerly  un- 
inhabited, or  at  best  only  sparsely  settled,  capable  of 
sustaining  large  populations.  In  early  times  regions  cov- 
ered with  forests  are  thinly  inliabited.  Civilized  man 
cuts  down  the  forest  and  turns  the  land  into  arable  fields. 
Lowlands,  which  in  early  times  were  at  the  mercy  of  the 
sea  or  uninhabitable  on  account  of  fevers,  civilized  man, 
by  canals  and  dikes,  renders  fertile  plains.  So,  also,  by 
means  of  fertilizers,  by  rotation  of  croj)s,  by  improved 
ploughing,  by  the  use  of  machinery,  sometimes  by  irriga- 
tion, dry  and  sterile  plains  are  made  productive.  Even 
from  year  to  year  changes  in  agriculture,  or  in  the  prices 
of  agricultural  crops,  may  render  it  expedient  to  change 
arable  land  into  pasture,  or  pasture  land  into  arable,  and 
either  process,  if  continued,  must  influence  the  population- 
supporting capacity  of  the  country.  An  example  of  this 
is  seen  in  the  changing  of  arable  land  to  pasture  in  Ire- 
land, and  the  turning  of  little  farms  into  game  preserves 
in  Scotland. 

In  the  civilized  state  man  often  makes  use  of  a country 
without  any  reference  to  its  agricultural  capacities.  He 
seeks  the  minerals  under  the  soil,  either  for  his  own  con- 
sumption or  for  export;  he  turns  clay  into  pottery ; he 
utilizes  water  power  for  his  factories  ; he  seeks  barren 
coasts  for  fishing  or  gathering  seaweed ; he  establishes 
trading  posts  in  the  desert,  or  in  unhealthy  localities ; — 
in  other  words,  he  seeks  his  gain  without  reference  to 


360 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


climate  or  soil.  In  modern  times  the  improved  means  of 
transportation  have  still  further  increased  man’s  command 
over  nature.  He  is  no  longer  held  to  rivers  and  valleys 
as  natural  highways,  but  can  seek  the  quickest  and  most 
direct  route.  Cheapness  of  transportation  gives  him  com- 
mand over  the  resources  of  the  world.  In  this  way 
he  can  carry  on  the  work  of  production  in  any  place  he 
likes,  without  regard  to  its  food-producing  capacity.  The 
people  of  England  import  three-fourths  of  the  bread  they 
eat.  This  has  the  effect  of  enabling  man  to  concentrate 
his  efforts  in  places  most  favourable  to  the  production 
of  the  kind  of  wealth  which  is  demanded.  It  enables 
him  also  to  choose  climates  favour-able  to  his  health,  as 
the  English  seek  the  Mediterranean,  or  consumptives  of 
the  East  seek  the  dry  air  of  Colorado.  Man’s  intellectual 
and  emotional  desires  lead  him  to  seek  large  cities,  and 
this  he  is  enabled  to  do  by  the  fact  that  he  can  carry  on 
his  occupation  independent  of  the  food  supply.  This  is 
especially  true  of  occupations  demanding  intellectual  ef- 
fort. 

It  will  be  seen,  therefore,  from  all  these  considerations, 
that  man  is  still  subject  to  the  en^dronment,  but  the 
development  of  his  power  over  nature  has  rendered  the 
cord  which  binds  him  down  more  elastic.  He  is  still 
subject  to  nature,  but  has  at  the  same  time,  to  a certain 
extent  at  least,  subjected  her.^ 

1 Ratzel,  Antliropo-Geographie,  I.,  p.  86,  remarks  that  it  is  an  error  to 
say  that  civilized  man  is  any  less  dependent  upon  nature  than  primi- 
tive man.  The  agriculturist  is  as  much  hound  to  the  soil  as  the  hunting- 
savage.  The  inhabitants  of  Great  Britain  are  dependent  upon  the  coal 
and  iron  mines  of  that  country.  This  does  not  contradict  what  is  said  in 
the  text.  Man  is  dependent  upon  nature  still,  hut  not  so  subject  to  her 
caprices. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

POPULATION  AND  CIVILIZATION  (SOCIAL  ENVIKONMENT)  . 

An  explanation  of  human  life  in  society  based  solely  on 
the  working  of  physical  forces  is  not  likely  to  he  satisfactory, 
or  of  great  practical  value.  In  the  first  place,  such  natu- 
ral forces  modify  human  life  and  social  organization  only 
indirectly.  Fertility  of  the  soil  undoubtedly  determines 
the  possibility  of  the  existence  of  society,  and  variation  in 
fertility  would  seem  to  be  necessarily  a fundamental  factor 
in  all  social  development,  and  in  every  phase  of  human 
existence.  Sociologists,  in  their  grouping  of  social  forms, 
are  accustomed  to  lay  great  stress  upon  the  method  of 
getting  food,  as  the  fishing  and  hunting  stage,  the  nomadic 
stage,  the  agricultural  stage,  and  the  like.  Fertility  of  the 
soil  works,  however,  only  indirectly,  by  determining  the 
economic  resources  of  the  community.  The  economy  itself 
is  determined  by  many  other  things  as  well,  such  as  the 
state  of  agricultural  skill,  the  stability  of  government,  the 
preservation  of  law  and  order,  the  recognition  of  the  rights 
of  property,  the  energy  of  labour  as  influenced  by  the  con- 
dition of  the  labourer,  the  tenure  of  land,  the  system  of 
wages,  the  prevailing  religious  and  ethical  systems.  So 
complicated  do  these  influences  become,  that  it  is  a barren 
metaphor  to  say  that  the  population  of  the  United  States 
is  conditioned  by  the  soil  of  the  continent. 

In  the  second  place,  as  has  already  been  remarked  in  the 
preceding  chapter,  while  man  is  subject  to  nature,  he  has 

361 


362 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


also,  at  least  to  a certain  extent,  subjected  her.  It  is  idle 
to  deny  that  there  is  a reflex  action  by  which  man  modifies 
his  physical  environment  in  order  to  adapt  it  to  his  liv- 
ing. Man,  as  the  more  plastic,  is  obliged  to  conform,  in  a 
general  way,  to  the  great  natural  forces  about  him  ; but, 
in  a certain  sense,  nature  is  obliged  to  adapt  itself,  or 
more  properly  be  adapted  to  the  demands  of  man.  It  is, 
of  course,  only  in  society  that  man  acquires  strength  and 
intensity  of  purpose  enough  thus  to  modify  the  physical 
environment  to  his  needs.  And  it  is  precisely  in  modern 
society,  which  we  study  by  means  of  statistics,  that  this 
modification  becomes  conscious  and  observable.  Concen- 
tration of  population  in  cities  is  the  most  marked  example 
of  the  deliberate  choice  of  certain  means  to  attain  his  ends, 
entirely  independent  of,  and  often  contrary  to  the  demands 
of  natural  environment,  such  as  the  food  supply.  The 
force  of  political  allegiance  or  race  loyalty  in  keeping  a 
population  fixed  on  an  ungrateful  soil,  when  migration 
might  make  all  the  conditions  of  life  easier,  is  another 
example  of  the  working  of  tradition  and  established  cus- 
tom in  counterbalancing  the  advantages  of  mere  physical 
environment.  The  spread  of  the  spirit  of  enterprise 
and  search  for  economic  advantage,  in  encouraging 
emigration  even  from  remote  rural  districts  of  Europe 
to  countries  of  the  New  World,  is  an  example  of  the 
effacement  or  weakening  of  one  social  influence  by  an- 
other. 

The  influences  leading  man  to  emancipate  himself  from 
the  direct  working  of  physical  environment  are  too  numer- 
ous to  be  followed  out  in  detail.  They  become  of  im- 
portance when  they  are  manifested  in  social  institutions, 
customs,  or  facts  of  social  life.  Together  they  constitute 
civilization  or  human  culture.  From  the  standpoint 
of  the  study  of  human  society  they  constitute  the  social 
environment,  as  distinct  from  the  influence  of  nature, 
or  the  physical  environment.  It  is  impossible  to  isolate 


POPULATION  AND  CIVILIZATION. 


363 


the  two  completely,  for  many  institutions,  customs,  and 
habits  of  life,  which  we  now  call  social,  have  had  their 
origin  and  find  their  ultimate  explanation  in  the  physical 
environment. 

In  many  directions  we  have  sought,  in  the  preceding 
chapters,  to  trace  the  influence  of  the  social  environment. 
Race  and  nationality,  family  relationship,  the  institution 
of  marriage,  religious  confession,  illiteracy  and  education, 
social  condition,  are  all  phenomena  of  the  social  environ- 
ment, and,  as  we  have  seen,  have  important  influence  on 
the  life  of  man.  It  remains  to  consider  those  great 
aspects  of  civilized  life  which  are  so  marked  that  they 
have  become  essential  features  of  modern  society.  We 
deal  only  with  those  which  can  be  expressed  statisti- 
cally. 

Size  of  Communities.  The  primary  statistical  charac- 
teristic of  modern  population  is  that  individuals  are 
gathered  together  into  stable  and  well-defined  political 
communities.  The  relation  of  the  individual  to  the  commu- 
nity also  is  not  only  legally  established,  hut  is  intensified 
by  a feeling  of  naturalness  and  permanence  which  creates 
a national  loyalty  and  patriotism  sufficient  to  sway  the 
actions  of  large  bodies  of  men.  Mere  size,  again,  deter- 
mines to  a certain  extent  the  international  position  of  a 
nation,  and  thus  animates  the  ambitions  and  desires  of  men. 
The  fact  that  Germany  is  now  an  empire,  the  greatest 
military  power  in  Europe,  gives  a specific  direction  and 
force  to  German  policy.  The  citizen  of  such  an  empire 
must  be  actuated  by  different  feelings  from  those  felt  by 
the  Hanoverian  or  the  Bavarian  in  the  days  of  the  Con- 
federation, when  the  little  state  was  everything  and  the 
unity  of  Germany  a fiction. 

The  relative  size  of  rival  nations  and  the  rate  of  growth 
are  important  factors  in  their  political  life.  In  the  preced- 
ing chapter  statistics  were  given  showing  the  population 
of  the  nations  of  Europe  in  connection  with  density.  The 


364 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


changes  in  relative  population  during  this  century  are 
shown  in  the  following  table  : ^ 


Country.  Population  Country.  Population 

in  1801.  iD 1891. 

Eussia  in  Europe  . . 40,000,000  Russia  in  Europe  . . 93,703,331 

France 26,800,000  Germany 49,424,135 

Germany 25,000,000  Austria-Hungary  . . 41,284,966 

Austria-Hungary  . . 25,000,000  France 38,218,903 

Italy 17,500,000  Great Brit’n,  Ireland.  37,888,152 

Great  Brit’n,  Ireland  . 16, .300,000  Italy 30,158,408 

Spain 6,000,000  Spain 17,246,688 


The  leading  nations  have  all  increased  in  population, 
but  at  different  rates,  so  that  the  order  is  very  much 
changed.  Russia  remains  at  the  head,  but  France  has 
sunk  to  the  fourth  place,  and  in  another  decade  will 
doubtless  be  passed  by  Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  Ger- 
many has  doubled  in  population,  and  now  occupies  undis- 
putedly  the  second  place.  When  we  consider  the  great 
rivalry  between  Germany  and  France,  this  steady  draw- 
ing ahead  of  the  former  must  be  a matter  of  momentous 
interest  to  the  latter.  In  fact,  the  question  suggests  itself, 
whether,  if  this  process  continue,  France  will  not  sink  into 
the  class  with  Italy  and  Spain. 

With  this  increased  size  of  the  leading  nations  of  the 
world,  the  smaller  ones  have  sunk  into  a secondary  position, 
taking  rank  only  with  the  larger  cities.  London,  with 
its  population  of  4,211,060,  is  very  nearly  as  large  as 
Portugal,  Holland,  or  Sweden  ; and  Paris,  with  2,447,960. 
nearly  equals  Switzerland,  and  surpasses  Denmark,  Nor- 
way, Greece,  and  Servia. 

Colonial  Power.  The  influence  of  a nation  is  not 
measured  solely  by  the  number  of  inhabitants  at  home. 
Many  of  the  nations  of  Europe  have  colonies  which  con- 
tribute to  their  importance  and  commercial  influence,  if 
not  to  their  military  strength.  Great  Britain  with  its 
possessions  includes  a population  of  3-35,000,000  souls. 

^ See  Levasseur,  La  Population  fran^aise,  HI.,  Chap.  VI. 


POPULATION  AND  CIVILIZATION. 


365 


France  with  her  dependencies  numbers  over  65,000,000  ; 
Germany  has  a very  small  colonial  population ; while 
Spain  still  claims  possessions  with  a population  of  over 

9.000. 000.  The  colonies  of  Holland  have  a population  of 

30.789.000,  or  seven  times  that  of  the  mother  country. 

Closely  connected  with  this  question  of  colonies  is  that 

of  the  future  dominant  speech  of  the  world.  There  seems 
to  he  no  doubt  that  English  is  the  widest  spread,  and  is 
destined  to  be  spoken  by  an  increasingly  large  proportion 
of  the  civilized  inhabitants  of  the  earth.  To  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  we  have  only  to  add 
those  of  the  United  States,  Canada,  and  Australia,  and 
we  get  at  once  over  100,000,000  civilized  white  persons, 
living  in  powerful  communities,  whose  speech  is  English, 
besides  the  thousands  scattered  in  the  British  colonies. 
We  must  also  consider  the  millions  of  men  of  other 
races  who  are  subject  to  the  English  or  under  their 
influence. 

Concentration  of  Population  in  Cities.  There  is  one 
marked  characteristic  of  modern  populations  which  de- 
serves consideration,  namely,  the  agglomeration  of  popula- 
tion in  cities.  We  have  in  them  a density  of  population 
far  exceeding  that  of  the  country,  but  having  little  con- 
nection with  land.  It  is  true  that,  in  their  origin,  many 
cities  owed  their  site  to  commercial  advantages,  or  to 
favourable  positions  as  centres  of  population.  But  some 
cities  were  simply  fortresses,  others,  the  seats  of  bishop- 
rics, and  still  others,  the  capitals  of  monarchies.  So  in 
modern  times,  some  cities  owe  their  position  to  commer- 
cial advantages,  such  as  Hamburg,  Liverpool,  and  New 
York  ; others,  such  as  factory  towns,  are  due  to  the  pres- 
ence of  minerals  or  a supply  of  fuel.  But  there  are  also 
many  which  have  grown  into  importance  simply  as  politi- 
cal capitals,  such  as  Berlin,  Madrid,  and  Washington  ; 
while  others  seem  to  have  had  largely  an  artiflcial  growth, 
due  to  the  energy  of  their  inhabitants.  Thus  the  con- 


366 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


centration  of  population  in  cities  sometimes  seems  to 
confirm  the  infiuence  of  nature,  and  sometimes  to  show  a 
purely  artificial  social  influence. 

There  is  a shght  statistical  difficulty  in  determining 
what  is  a city,  that  is,  in  drawing  the  line  between  the 
urban  and  the  rural  population.  On  the  continent  of 
Europe  it  is  customary  to  take  all  villages  or  agglomera- 
tions of  people  of  2000  or  more  as  urban  population.  In 
England  it  is  customary  to  assume  that  the  population 
of  urban  sanitary  districts  is  urban,  and  the  population 
outside  such  districts,  rural.  In  the  United  States  we 
commonly  take  the  incorporated  villages  or  towns  having 
a certain  minimum  population,  as,  for  instance,  8000,  or 
in  some  cases  4000.  In  the  New  England  states,  how- 
ever, the  town  corresponds  to  what  is  known  as  the  town- 
ship in  the  other  states,  and  includes  both  urban  and 
rural  population.  In  the  face  of  these  difficulties,  it  is 
manifestly  impossible  to  obtain  an  exact  enumeration  of 
the  urban  population.  For,  where  we  take  an  arbitrary 
limit  such  as  2000,  it  will  often  happen  that  some  villages 
above  the  limit  will  have  all  the  characteristics  of  a 
rural  population,  while  others  below  it  may  have  all 
the  characteristics  of  an  urban  population.  Where  we 
take  an  arbitrary  distinction,  such  as  the  boundaries 
of  sanitary  districts,  or  the  municipal  limits  of  incorpo- 
rated villages  and  towns,  it  will  often  happen  that  these 
limits  will  be  so  widely  drawn  as  to  include  agricultural 
districts ; while  in  other  cases  they  will  be  too  narrowly 
drawn,  so  that  populous  suburbs  will  be  counted  as  rural 
when  they  are  really  urban.  In  the  long  run  these  differ- 
ences will  inore  or  less  offset  each  other,  so  that  although 
the  figures  for  different  countries  may  not  be  exactly  com- 
parable, nor  the  figures  for  any  one  country  absolutely 
accurate,  yet  the  statistics  for  successive  periods  will  give 
us  interesting  information. 

The  number  of  the  urban  population  in  any  country 


POPULATION  AND  CIVILIZATION. 


367 


depends  principally  upon  whether  the  country  is  agricult- 
ural, or  commercial  and  industrial.  In  Germany,  for 
instance,  we  have  the  following  contrasts,  showing  the 
percentage  of  the  population  living  in  towns  of  2000 
inhabitants  and  over : 


German  Empire 

. 42.8 

Baden 

38.4 

Hesse 

44.6 

Prussia  .... 

. 42.4 

Liibeck  .... 

83.1 

Bavaria  .... 

. 31.3 

Bremen  .... 

92.0 

Saxony  .... 

. 62.9 

Hamburg  .... 

96.3 

Wiirtemberg . . . 

. 35.2 

Alsace-Lorraine 

37.8 

The  percentage  for  Saxony,  62.9,  shows  the  industrial 
character  of  that  region;  that  for  Bavaria,  31.3,  shows 
the  prevalence  of  agriculture  in  South  Germany ; while 
the  figures  for  Lfibeck,  Bremen,  and  Hamburg  show  that 
these  states  of  the  German  empire  are  simply  cities. 

In  France,  where  we  have  the  same  dividing  line, 
namely,  2000  inhabitants,  statistics  show  a constant  aug- 
mentation of  the  urban  population.  In  1846  the  urban 
population  was  24.42  per  cent ; in  1866  it  was  30.46  per 
cent ; in  1886  it  was  35.95  per  cent. 

In  England  and  Wales,  in  1891,  71.7  per  cent  lived  in 
urban  sanitary  districts.  This  showed  an  increase  of 
15.3  per  cent  since  1881.  In  Scotland  they  make  a three- 
fold division,  into  town,  village,  and  rural  population. 
In  1891,  65.37  per  cent  of  the  inhabitants  of  Scotland 
resided  in  towns;  11.57  per  cent  resided  in  villages; 
26.26  per  cent  resided  in  the  rural  districts.  The  towns 
showed  an  increase  of  14.06  per  cent,  the  villages  an 
increase  of  4.01  per  cent,  and  the  rural  districts  a decrease 
of  5.33  per  cent  in  population,  since  1881. 

In  Ireland  17.9  per  cent  of  the  population  lived  in 
towns  of  10,000  inhabitants  and  over,  while  26.4  per  cent 
lived  in  incorporated  towns  having  2000  inhabitants  and 
over. 

In  the  United  States  the  proportion  of  urban  popula- 


368 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


tion  has  steadily  increased  since  1790,  as  is  shown  in  the 
following  table : 


Census  Yeab. 

Population 
of  the 

United  States. 

Population 
of  Cities. 

Inhabitants  of 
Cities  in  each 
100  of  the  Total 
Population. 

1790  .... 

131,472 

3.35 

1800  .... 

. . . 5,308,483 

210,873 

3.97 

1810  .... 

. . . 7,239,881 

356,920 

4.93 

1820  .... 

. . . 9,633,822 

475,135 

4.93 

1830  .... 

. . . 12,866,020 

864,509 

6.72 

1840  .... 

1,453,994 

8.52 

1850  .... 

2,897,586 

12.49 

1860  .... 

. . . 31,443,321 

5,072,256 

16.13 

1870  .... 

. . . 38,558,371 

8,071,875 

20.93 

1880  .... 

. . . 50,155,783 

11,318,547 

22.57 

1890  .... 

. . . 62,622,250 

18,284,385 

29.20 

In  1790  only  3,35  per  cent  of  the  population  lived  in 
towns  having  8000  inhabitants  and  over,  while  in  1890 
29.20  per  cent  of  the  population  lived  in  such  towns. 
The  number  of  these  towns  in  1790  was  only  6,  while  in 
1880  it  was  286,  and  in  1890  had  reached  448. 

In  the  North  Atlantic  division  51.58  per  cent,  or  more 
than  one-half  of  the  entire  population,  is  contained  in 
cities  of  8000  or  more  inhabitants.  In  the  North  Central 
division  only  25.91  per  cent  of  the  inhabitants  are  classed 
as  urban.  In  the  South  Atlantic  and  South  Central  divis- 
ions the  proportion  of  urban  population  is  comparatively 
small,  being  in  the  first  named  but  16.03  per  cent  of  the 
entire  population,  and  in  the  second  but  10.45  per  cent, 
the  proportion  of  urban  to  the  total  population  in  all 
the  Southern  states  being  less  than  13  per  cent.  In  the 
Western  division  the  urban  population  constituted  29.99 
per  cent  of  the  total  number  of  inhabitants. 

The  minimum  limit  of  8000  for  ui'ban  population  is 
much  higher  than  is  customary  in  Europe.  If  we  take 
lower  minima,  we  shall  find  that  in  1890  there  were  3715 
places  of  1000  inhabitants  or  more,  having  a total  popula- 
tion of  26,109,074,  and  representing  41.69  per  cent  of  the 


POPULATION  AND  CIVILIZATION. 


369 


total  population  of  the  United  States ; we  further  find 
that  in  1890  there  were  1522  places  having  a population 
of  2500  and  over,  with  a combined  population  of  22,717,- 
465,  and  representing  36.28  per  cent  of  the  population  ; 
and  that  there  were  905  places  with  a population  of  4000 
and  over,  containing  20,799,296  people,  or  33.21  per 
cent  of  the  total  population  of  the  country.  The  urban 
population  in  the  United  States  is  not  so  numerous  as  that 
of  England,  but  seems  to  be  about  that  of  France,  and 
perhaps  a little  less  than  that  of  Germany. 

Everywhere  the  cities  are  growing  faster  than  the  rural 
districts.  In  England  the  population  of  the  urban  sani- 
tary districts  increased  (1881-91)  15.3  per  cent,  whereas 
that  of  rural  sanitary  districts  increased  only  3.4  per 
cent.  These  figures  show  only  a less  rapid  increase  in 
the  country  population  than  in  the  city  population. 
In  some  counties,  however,  there  has  been  an  actual 
decrease  in  population.  Cornwall  has  decreased  contin- 
uously since  1861,  and  has  lost  in  all  46,801  people ; Here- 
ford, since  1871,  has  lost  9571 ; Huntingdon,  since  1861, 
has  lost  6478  ; Rutland,  since  1851,  has  lost  2536 ; and 
Shropshire,  since  1871,  has  lost  11,795.  The  total  loss 
has  amounted  to  4.8  per  cent  in  Salop,  7.5  per  cent  in 
Hereford,  10.1  per  cent  in  both  Huntingdon  and  Rut- 
land, and  12.7  per  cent  in  Cornwall.^  A similar  state  of 
things  is  found  in  the  rural  counties  of  Wales  and  Scot- 
land. In  Ireland  all  the  counties  have  decreased  owing 
to  emigration,  with  the  exception  of  Dublin  and  Antrim. 
In  France  not  less  than  55  out  of  the  87  departments  had 
decreased  in  population,  according  to  the  census  of  1891  ; 
and  of  the  32  that  had  increased,  not  less  than  7 showed  a 
decrease  in  their  rural  parts,  when  the  large  towns  were 
deducted.  In  Germany  the  towns  of  10,000  and  over 
showed  a much  more  rapid  increase  than  the  rural  dis- 

1 Longstaff,  Eural  Depopulation,  Jour.  Stat.  Soc.,  Vol.  LVI.,  p.  380 
(1893). 


370 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


tricts.  The  same  fact  is  true  for  other  countries  of 
Europe.  Even  in  new  countries  like  the  United  States, 
the  cities  are  growing  faster  than  the  rural  districts. 

The  reason  for  the  more  rapid  growth  of  cities  is  found 
in  the  changed  industrial  character  of  the  modern  com- 
munity. The  old  handicrafts  have  been  given  up,  and 
manufactures  are  now  carried  on  in  factory  towns  and 
cities.  The  introduction  of  machinery  in  agriculture 
renders  a smaller  population  sufficient  in  the  country, 
and  the  surplus  is  drawn  off  to  large  towns.  Improved 
means  of  communication  and  intelligence  render  the 
migratory  movement  easier,  and  give  opportunity  to 
the  restless  and  discontented  to  change  their  domicile. 
The  same  means  of  communication  allow  this  concen- 
tration of  population  by  rendering  it  easy  to  bring  food 
and  raw  material  from  great  distances.  The  process  is 
to  be  regretted  only  if  it  create  an  actual  insufficiency  of 
labour  in  the  agricultural  districts,  or  on  account  of  the 
unhealthful  influence  of  city  life. 

This  concentration  of  population  in  large  cities  is  one 
of  the  most  important  manifestations  of  the  social  environ- 
ment. The  influence  of  city  life  is,  in  many  respects, 
artificial  and  stimulating.  The  traces  of  this  influence 
revealed  in  births,  marriages,  deaths,  disease,  suicide,  and 
crime,  we  have  already  studied.  There  are  many  others 
which  may  find  statistical  expression  by  special  study. 
Radical  political  parties  flourish  in  large  cities,  as  may  he 
seen  by  an  analysis  of  the  social-democratic  vote  in  such 
places  as  Berlin,  Hamburg,  and  Leipsic.  Cities  mean  a 
concentration  of  wealth,  as  may  he  seen  by  compari- 
son of  the  assessed  valuation  of  New  York  City  with 
that  of  the  rest  of  the  state.  Theatres,  clubs,  and 
places  of  amusement  are  most  numerous  in  cities,  and  we 
might  have  interesting  detailed  statistics  showing  the  re- 
lation of  these  things  to  the  classes  of  inhabitants  in 
different  quarters  of  the  city.  The  cities  are  the  great 


POPULATION  AND  CIVILIZATION. 


371 


centres  also  for  hospitals,  orphan  asylums,  homes  for  the 
aged,  and  charitable  institutions  of  all  sorts.  Public 
charity  here  takes  on  its  most  systematic  form,  owing  to 
the  fact  that  personal  relations  are  not  close  and  intimate 
as  they  often  are  in  the  country,  and  that  the  city  has  to 
deal  with  a large  proportion  of  the  vagrant  and  floating 
population.  London  shows  a much  greater  proportion  of 
in-door  paupers  than  the  rural  districts  of  England.  All 
these  things  modify  the  population  of  a country  in  many 
different  directions,  and  give  to  modern  civilization  a 
stamp  of  its  own.  Unfortunately,  the  influences  are  so 
dependent  on  local  circumstances  that  general  statistics 
are  of  little  avail.  We  have  here  an  opportunity  for 
sociological  investigation  of  particular  problems,  by  the 
statistics  of  social  condition,  which  would  probably  bear 
rich  fruit ; and  to  this  the  sociologists  must  address  them- 
selves, if  they  desire  to  express  the  actual  influence  of 
city  life  in  an  intelligible  way. 

Wealth  and  Social  Position.  It  goes  without  saying 
that  the  influence  of  civilization,  representing  the  social 
environment,  is  keenly  felt  in  the  statistics  of  the  social 
condition  of  the  community.  The  great  question  is  : — 
Does  civilization  increase  the  material  well-being  of  the 
mass  of  the  population  ? With  increasing  wealth  is  there 
increasing  comfort  ? This  is  a question  of  Economic 
Statistics,  and  we  cannot  go  into  it  here.  It  involves  the 
question  of  wages  and  the  condition  of  the  wage-receiving 
class.  It  requires  a statistical  analysis  of  the  distribution 
of  wealth  and  the  relative  shares  received  by  the  rich  and 
the  poor.  The  general  fact  stands  out  that  the  majority 
of  the  community  is  better  fed,  clothed,  and  housed  than 
in  former  times  ; that  education  and  general  knowledge 
are  more  wide-spread;  that  participation  in  political  power, 
which  is  the  guarantee  against  exploitation  by  other 
classes,  is  almost  universal ; and  that  the  social  importance 
of  the  working  classes  is  greater  than  it  ever  has  been 


372 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


before.  On  tbe  other  hand,  there  is  great  concentration  of 
capital  in  the  hands  of  corporations  and  a few  individuals, 
while  a portion  of  the  community  seems  to  he  sunk  in 
abject  poverty.  The  stress  of  civilization  is  felt  in  the 
greater  opportunity  to  some,  and  the  hopeless  submergence 
of  others.  Crime  is  on  the  increase,  except  perhaps  in 
England  ; suicide,  vice,  and  insanity  are  more  manifest 
than  ever.  Here  again,  the  minute  investigation  of  par- 
ticular communities  seems  to  be  the  most  feasible  method 
for  comprehending  these  phenomena,  while  at  the  same 
time  throwing  light  upon  some  of  the  questions  of  practi- 
cal sociology. 

Social  Environment  and  Race.  The  fundamental  fact 
of  ethnography  is  the  division  of  mankind  into  races  and 
nationalities.  We  cannot  trace  the  distinguishing  marks 
of  race  back  to  their  origin  ; but  we  know  that  all  early 
history  of  mankind  is  full  of  migrations,  that  these  migra- 
tions probably  had  something  to  do  with  the  separation  of 
men  into  races,  and  that  physical  environment  would  very 
likely  tend  to  perpetuate  differences  when  once  established. 
A second  important  fact  of  history  is  that  the  constant 
struggle  of  races  and  nations  for  mastery  has  resulted  in 
frequent  conquests  of  one  nation  by  another.  Men  of 
different  race  and  nationality  have  thus  been  brought 
under  the  same  physical  environment,  and  there  has  oc- 
curred a mixture  of  institutions,  language,  and  sometimes 
of  blood. 

Historians  have  tried  to  determine  how  far  races  or 
peoples  mingled  in  these  conquests,  and  what  was  the  result 
of  such  mixture  on  subsequent  institutions.  To  determine 
these  questions  they  have  the  evidence  of  history,  the 
character  of  the  language,  and  the  tj^pe  of  institutions. 
Contemporary  accounts  of  the  German  conquest  of  Britain 
convince  historians  like  Stubbs  and  Freeman  that  the 
Britons  were,  for  the  most  part,  exterminated  by  their 
conquerors.  Language  confirms  this  view,  for  very  few 


POPULATION  AND  CIVILIZATION. 


373 


Celtic  words  are  found  in  English,  and  these  pertain  only 
to  domestic  and  household  objects.  The  institutions 
also  are  pure  German,  being  neither  Celtic  nor  Roman.  ^ 
On  the  other  hand,  in  the  Frankish  conquest  of  Gaul 
historians  trace  an  intermingling  of  two  races,  which 
resulted  in  marked  changes  in  the  language  and  constitu- 
tion. The  Norman  conquest  of  England  invigorated  the 
whole  system  of  government,  although  the  infusion  of 
blood  was  small.  Bancroft  traces  the  free  institutions  of 
America  to  the  Anglo-Saxon  blood  of  the  settlers,  who,  he 
affirms,  were  not  of  “the  high  folk  of , Normandie ” hut 
of  “ the  low  men  ” who  were  Saxons. ^ 

It  will  he  observed  that  historians  follow  a double  line 
of  reasoning.  They  argue  that  there  has  not  been  a mixt- 
ure of  races  because  the  language  and  institutions  are  pure. 
In  the  second  place,  they  ascribe  the  mixture  of  languages 
or  institutions,  where  they  are  mixed,  to  the  influence  of 
two  or  more  races.  All  this,  however,  must  be  largely 
hypothetical.  As  a matter  of  history,  we  may  know  that 
the  Anglo-Saxons  came  to  England  and  brought  certain 
forms  of  institutions  and  certain  customs  with  them,  and 
that  we  find  these  perpetuated.  -It  is  impossible,  however, 
to  disentangle  the  relation  of  races,  and  ascribe  institu- 
tions to  a specific  origin.  Races  are  never  pure,  but 
always  mixed  ; our  statistics  of  the  number  of  each  race 
are  always  incomplete,  and  in  past  history  are  abso- 
lutely lacking ; and  even  at  the  present  time  we  cannot 
distinguish  clearly  the  ethnic  elements  which  have  sur- 
vived. 

From  the  standpoint  of  statistics,  the  theories  of  his- 
torians in  regard  to  the  effect  of  the  mixture  of  races 
must  always  remain  extremely  imaginative.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  statistics  of  the  foreign-born  in  the  United  States 
suggest  the  inquiry  Avhether  we  have  not  here  an  opportu- 

1 Stubbs,  History  of  England,  I.,  Chap.  1. 

2 Bancroft,  History  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  II.,  p.  176.  , 


374 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


nity  to  study  tlie  mixture  of  races  such  as  we  have  never 
had  before.  The  advantages  are  many.  It  is  true  that 
nationalities  (by  place  of  bii'th)  do  not  represent,  accu- 
rately, different  races.  But  during  the  fifteen  hundred 
years  of  contest  which  the  peoples  of  Europe  have  passed 
through  in  forming  themselves  into  nations,  differences 
have  developed  which  are  almost  as  sharp  and  marked  as 
those  of  race.  It  is  also  true  that  our  statistics  are  im- 
perfect, inasmuch  as  they  reach  back  only  one  generation, 
and  we  cannot  tell  what  the  whole  strength  of  the  inter- 
mixture has  been.  But  we  never  have  had  so  complete 
statistics  before,  and  it  is  improbable  that  we  shall  ever 
have  them  again.  They  are  unique  in  the  experience  of 
the  world. 

Finally,  the  circumstances  under  which  the  mixture  of 
nationalities  has  occurred  in  the  United  States  are  unique. 
In  history,  the  mixtiu'e  of  races  has  been  due  to  conquest 
which  has  resulted  in  one  race  assuming  the  position  of 
master,  and  the  other  of  servant.  It  is  not  always  the 
conqueror,  indeed,  whose  civilization  has  triumphed  in 
the  long  run.  Where  his  civilization  was  inferior,  that 
of  the  conquered  has  survived,  as  in  the  Frankish  con- 
quest of  Gaul.  Where  the  civilizations  were  about  on 
a par,  there  has  been  a fusion,  the  conqueror  introducing 
his  system  of  government  in  the  upper  part  of  the  organ- 
ization, leaving  the  mass  of  the  conquered  to  their  own 
language  and  local  institutions.  Such  a fusion  was  the 
result  of  the  Norman  conquest  of  England.  In  the  United 
States  the  mixtm’e  of  nationalities  has  been  under  different 
conditions.  There  has  been  no  conquest  by  one  nation- 
ality, no  relation  established  of  master  and  dependent. 
Each  nationality  has  had  the  same  opportunity  to  develop 
and  attain  a position  of  power.  The  free  extension  of 
political  privileges,  and  the  absolute  equality  before  the 
law,  have  still  further  accentuated  the  doctrine  of  equal 
chances.  Under  these  conditions  we  might  expect  to  find 


POPULATION  AND  CIVILIZATION. 


375 


the  different  nationalities  leaving  their  distinct  mark  upon 
the  institutions  of  the  United  States. 

The  statistical  method  by  which  we  may  study  this 
question  has  been  indicated  in  a preceding  chapter.  We 
are  able  to  distribute  the  foreign-born  and  those  of  for- 
eign parentage  by  states  and  nationalities.  It  would  seem 
that  when  two  states  or  sections  differ  radically  as  to 
the  character  of  their  inlrabitants,  some  trace  of  it  ought 
to  appear  in  the  institutions.  When  we  know  that  75.67 
per  cent  of  the  population  of  Minnesota  is  foreign  by  birth 
or  by  parentage,  wlxile  only  43.78  per  cent  of  the  popula- 
tion of  the  neighbouring  state  of  Iowa  is  foreign,  we  might 
expect  to  find  some  marked  difference  in  the  legislation,  the 
institutions,  and  the  internal  policies  of  those  two  common- 
wealths. This  would  seem  to  be  more  probable  when  one 
knows  that  in  Minnesota  there  are  238.8  foreign  voters  of 
two  generations  to  100  native  voters,  and  in  Iowa  only 
71.5.  Many  other  contrasts  as  striking  will  be  found  upon 
careful  examination  of  the  statistics^  But  we  do  not  find 
the  states  differing  radically  from  each  other.  How  shall 
we  explain  this  ? 

It  is  evident  that  there  must  be  influences  which  tend  to 
overcome  those  of  race  and  nationality.  To  go  into  these 
in  detail  is  the  office  of  sociology.  We  shall  only  indicate 
them  here,  emphasizing  those  upon  which  statistics  are 
able  to  throw  light.  They  are  as  follows  : 

(1)  The  physical  environment.  Some  ethnologists  lay 
great  stress  on  this,  asserting  that  the  climate  of  America 
tends  to  reduce  whites  and  negroes  alike  to  the  t}rpe  of  the 
American  Indian.  Without  dwelling  upon  what  seems 
to  be  rather  an  extreme  view,  it  is  doubtless  true  that 
climate  has  an  effect  in  effacing  national  differences,  by 
inducing  the  same  kind  of  life,  outdoor  or  indoor,  by 
leading  to  the  same  kind  of  food,  clothing,  shelter,  and 

1 See  my  article  on  Assimilation  of  Nationalities,  Political  Science 
Quarterly,  Vol.  IX.,  p.  649. 


376 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


the  like.  More  particularly,  the  commou  struggle  against 
nature,  the  frontier  life,  the  necessity  for  self-reliance,  the 
distance  from  government,  — all  this  has  been  a constant 
influence  tending  to  develop  the  same  qualities  in  all  the 
inhabitants. 

(2)  Immigration  in  the  modern  sense  is  a fact  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  Formerly  there  was  colonization, 
which  had  a more  permanent  and  influential  character. 
But  the  recent  immigrants  have  entered  into  a country  where 
institutions  and  state-forms  have  already  received  their 
impress.  This  impress  has  been  English.  Everywhere 
the  language,  the  form  of  government,  the  customs,  are 
English.  Into  this  mould  already  prepared,  the  individual 
immigrant  has  been  precij)itated.  It  is  no  wonder  he 
has  not  been  able  to  withstand  the  dissolving  influence  of 
American  life.  Common-school  education,  the  exercise  of 
political  rights,  intercourse  with  natives,  intermarriage  to 
a small  extent,  all  tend  to  make  him  feel  and  act  like  an 
American.  Connection  with  the  mother  country  has  been 
broken  off,  and  he  soon  becomes  a citizen  of  the  New 
World. 

(3)  It  seems  to  be  the  super-organic  influence  which 
thus  counterbalances  or  overcomes  the  influence  of  race. 
Physical  environment  may  have  some  influence  in  develop- 
ing a somewhat  similar  physique.  But  social  environment 
has  a still  more  marked  influence  in  bringing  all  into  accord 
with  the  prevailing  type  of  society.  Doubtless  the  con- 
ditions of  modern  civilization  have  something  to  do  with 
this.  The  means  of  communication  and  expression,  rail- 
roads, telegraph,  newspapers,  make  it  possible  to  infuse  a 
great  mass  of  people  with  the  same  ideas  and  the  same 
intelligence.  Public  opinion  vibrates  from  one  end  of  the 
land  to  the  other,  and  soon  touches  the  most  ignorant 
immigrant.  The  social  influence  everywhere  tends  to 
Americanize  him.  To  succeed,  he  must  learn  English  ; 
and  he  desires  that  his  children  shall  speak  English  with- 


POPULATION  AND  CIVILIZATION. 


377 


out  accent.  To  compete  in  commercial  enterprises,  he 
must  adopt  American  quickness  and  energy.  To  become 
a farmer,  he  must  use  machinery  and  cultivate  land  on  a 
large  scale.  To  enter  politics,  he  must  follow  the  estab- 
lished methods.  Add  to  this  that  in  many  cases  the  im- 
migrant finds  advancement  in  social  and  political  position 
by  adopting  American  ideas,  and  looks  forward  to  a 
future  for  himself  and  his  children  which  he  never  could 
have  aspired  to  at  home,  and  one  sees  how  the  incentives  of 
ambition,  hopefulness,  and  prosperity  unite  to  make  him 
conform  to  American  life.  It  is,  therefore,  probable 
that,  under  the  free  conditions  of  a new  and  democratic 
country,  social  infiuences  are  more  powerful  in  forming  in- 
stitutions than  either  physical  environment  or  the  mixture 
of  races. 

It  would  seem  from  the  example  of  the  United  States 
that  the  influence  of  the  social  environment  is  to  efface  the 
differences  of  nationality,  and  to  bring  all  the  citizens  of 
a country  to  similar  institutions,  customs,  and  aspirations. 
The  same  influence  extended  to  international  relations 
would  tend  towards  cosmopolitanism.  Doubtless  modern 
intercourse  has  this  assimilating  effect.  But  national  prej- 
udices are  still  strong,  and  civilization  finds  its  surest  line 
of  progress  in  national  development,  where  there  is  some 
homogeneity  of  population  and  mental  character  as  a 
foundation.  That  social  environment  is  able  to  assimi- 
late such  divergent  elements,  and  in  such  numbers  as 
are  brought  to  the  United  States  by  immigration,  shows 
what  a powerful  factor  civilization  is  on  the  life  of 
nations  and  of  individual  men. 

The  Law  of  Population.  Since  the  days  of  Malthus 
much  thought  has  been  expended  in  trying  to  formulate 
a law  of  population.  Most  of  the  formulae  which  have 
found  expression  rest  on  biological  considerations  of 
the  power  of  reproduction  in  the  human  species,  and  the 
relation  of  that  power  to  the  possible  increase  of  the 


378 


STATISTICS  AOT)  SOCIOLOGY. 


means  of  subsistence.  The  results  reacted  by  theory  are, 
however,  rather  indefinite  and  altogether  unsatisfactory. 
The  reproductive  power  is  undoubtedly  enormous,  and,  if 
unchecked  and  unhindered,  would  in  a few  hundred  years 
literally  cover  the  globe  with  human  beings.  Even  with- 
out dealing  in  imaginary  geometrical  ratios,  we  have 
historical  examples  of  population  doubling  in  less  than 
twenty-five  years,  and  Levasseur  asserts  that  population 
in  Java  has  quadrupled  in  thirty -five  years.  ^ In  regard 
to  the  means  of  subsistence  the  theory  is  equally  indefi- 
nite. The  amount  of  land  being  limited,  there  must  be  a 
final  limit  to  the  number  of  people.  On  the  other  hand, 
invention  and  progress  increase  the  power  of  man  over 
nature,  and  add  to  the  resources  of  the  race  in  an  almost 
miraculous  way.  It  is  absolutely  futile  to  discuss  the 
relation  of  two  such  unknown  and  unknowable  quantities 
as  the  possible  increase  of  population  and  the  possible 
supply  of  food.  The  useful  things  to  know  are  the  real 
facts  respecting  the  growth  of  population,  and  the  con- 
nection this  growth  has  with  the  economic  resources  of 
the  population.  Here  the  science  of  statistics  indicates 
several  fruitful  lines  of  investigation. 

In  the  first  place,  population  is  actually  increasing  in 
civilized  countries.  Leaving  the  United  States  out  of 
consideration  as  an  exceptional  case,  the  population  of 
Europe  has  doubled  during  the  last  one  hundred  years. 
In  1801  the  number  of  inhabitants  was  estimated  at  175 
millions,  and  in  1891  at  357  millions. ^ And  population  is 
still  increasing.  Ireland,  it  is  true,  loses  from  decade  to 
decade,  but  from  altogether  exceptional  causes.  The 
population,  wliich  was  8,175,124  in  1841,  had  sunk  to 
4,704,750  in  1891,  that  is,  a little  more  than  one-half. 
Even  from  1881  to  1891  population  decreased  9.08  per 
cent.  France  also  has  apparently  reached  a stationary 

iLa  Population  fran§aise,  III.,  p.  19. 

2 Levasseur,  La  Pop.  fran^aise.  III.,  p.  232. 


POPULATION  AND  CIVILIZATION 


379 


condition.  But  England  and  Wales  increased  from  1881 
to  1891  by  11.65  per  cent;  during  the  preceding  decade, 
by  14.36  per  cent;  and  in  no  decade  since  1801  has  the 
increase  been  less  than  11  per  cent.  The  population  of 
the  German  empire  increased  from  1871  to  1890  by  20.4 
per  cent,  and  is  still  increasing  at  the  rate  of  1.07  per  cent 
per  annum. 

Civilized  populations,  therefore,  with  very  few  excep- 
tions, continue  to  grow.  The  actual  means  of  subsistence 
must  also  continue  to  grow ; otherwise,  either  such  in- 
crease would  be  impossible,  or  would  be  accompanied 
by  a lower  standard  of  well-being.  It  belongs  to  Eco- 
nomic Statistics  to  measure  the  increase  of  wealth  and  to 
determine  whether  its  distribution  is  such  as  to  increase 
the  average  well-being.  As  a matter  of  fact,  statistics 
do  show  a constant  increase  and  also  a higher  level 
of  subsistence  for  the  mass  of  the  people.^  It  would 
take  us  too  far,  however,  to  enter  upon  that  subject 
here. 

In  the  second  place,  statistics  enable  us  to  study  the 
actual  relations  of  births,  marriages,  and  deaths,  — the 
immediate  factors  in  the  increase  or  decrease  of  popula- 
tion. The  present  condition  of  things  in  civilized  com- 
munities is  particularly  interesting.  Tlie  birth-rate  in 
Europe  seems  to  be  everywhere  diminishing,  as  is  shown 
by  comparing  the  average  birth-rates  for  the  period 
1871-90  with  those  for  subsequent  years,  on  page  68. 
The  decline  in  the  marriage-rate,  as  shown  on  page  95, 
is  much  less  marked,  and  in  itself  probably  has  not  much 
influence  on  the  increase  of  population.  The  advanced 
age  of  marriage  also  is  not  marked  enough  to  retard 
population.  2 

While  the  birth-rate  is  decreasing,  the  same  is  true  also 
of  the  death-rate,  so  that  the  net  gain  in  population  con- 

iGiflen,  Progress  of  the  Working  Classes.  Growth  of  Capital. 

*See  Fetter,  Versuch  einer  Bevolkerungslehre. 


380 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


tinues.  The  facts  for  England  are  shown  in  the  follow- 
ing interesting  comparison : ^ 


Increase 

Decrease 

Gain  per  cent 

Intercensal 

per  cent 

per  cent 

by  Excess  of 

Periods. 

by  Births. 

by  Deaths. 

Births  over  Deaths 

1841-51 

34.64 

23.73 

10.91 

1851-61 

36.19 

23.58 

12.61 

1861-71 

37.56 

23.98 

13.58 

1871-81 

37.89 

22.80 

15.09 

1881-91 

34.24 

20.27 

13.97 

The  birth-rate  (1881-91)  is  about  the  same  as  in  1841- 
51,  and  much  less  than  in  1861-71 ; but  the  death-rate 
has  decreased,  so  that  the  natural  increase  by  excess  of 
births  over  deaths  is  much  greater. 

It  is  hardly  possible  that  this  decrease  in  the  birth-rate 
has  been  brought  about  by  lack  of  food,  for  that  would 
certainly  have  had  some  effect  on  the  death-rate.  There 
must  have  been  psychological  causes  inducing  married 
persons  to  have  a less  number  of  cliildren.  These  causes 
are  difficult  of  investigation  by  statistics,  but  there  is 
some  evidence  which  can  be  brought  to  bear  on  the 
question. 

The  first  fact  is  one  which  we  have  already  alluded 
to  in  the  chapter  on  Births,  viz.,  that  the  upper  classes 
have  fewer  children  than  the  lower.  Whenever  we  can 
distinguish  classes,  by  social  condition,  as,  for  instance, 
according  to  profession  and  occupation,  or  character  of 
dwelling,  or  race  (as  blacks  and  whites  in  the  United 
States),  we  almost  always  find  a lower  birth-rate  among 
the  well-to-do  and  intelligent  than  among  the  poor  and 
ignorant.  There  is  power  in  whole  classes  to  maintain 
a standard  of  living  above  the  bare  means  of  subsistence, 
and  to  transmit  it  to  a limited  nmnber  of  offspring. 

A second  fact  is  the  stationariness  of  population  in 
France,  which  has  excited  so  much  interest  and  which  is 
undoubtedly  due,  in  part  at  least,  to  the  thrift  and  pru- 
1 Census  of  England,  TV.,  p.  5. 


POPULATION  AND  CIVILIZATION. 


381 


dence  of  the  agricultural  class.  A similar  process  seems 
to  have  begun  in  Austria,  where,  according  to  the  last 
census,  the  birth-rate  is  decreasing,  while  wages  are  in- 
creasing, and  the  prices  of  food  diminishing.  ^ 

It  is  in  these  directions  that  statistics  may  possibly 
reveal  the  working  of  psychological  motives,  which  wiU 
enable  us  to  formulate  a law  of  population  applicable  to 
man  in  civilized  society.  That  such  motives  are  actuat- 
ing individuals,  classes,  and  even  whole  communities, 
there  is  no  reason  to  doubt.  The  problem  is  to  detect  in 
what  way  such  prudential  action  is  exerting  itself,  and  to 
measure  its  effects.  Sociology  has  no  more  important 
question,  and  statistics  seems  the  most  efficient  instru- 
ment of  investigation  for  its  solution. 

Social  Environment  and  Statistics.  As  civilization  be- 
comes more  complex,  the  number  of  social  influences 
affecting  the  population  must  increase  both  in  number  and 
complexity.  The  birth-rate  in  such  a country  as  Eng- 
land is  influenced  by  the  disposition  to  marriage,  by  the 
state  of  medical  knowledge,  by  the  sanitary  condition  of 
towns,  by  the  fluctuations  in  the  state  of  well-being,  by 
the  social  ambitions  of  the  people,  and  in  a thousand  other 
ways  which  can  scarcely  be  formulated,  much  less  meas- 
ured, although  we  know  that  they  are  present.  Under 
such  conditions,  we  may  ask,  what  will  become  of  the 
regularities  of  statistics  ? As  we  perfect  our  instrument 
of  investigation,  will  not  the  phenomena  become  so  illusive 
that  it  will  be  useless  to  try  to  distinguish  them  ? In  a 
civilized  state  the  regularities  which  statistics  reveal  will 
not  be  persistent  from  year  to  year,  regardless  of  changes 
in  the  social  environment.  They  will  always  be  subject 
to  the  condition,  “ provided  the  circumstances  remain  the 
same.”  It  is  perfectly  conceivable  that  the  rate  of  suicide 
in  England  might  change  violently,  if  there  should  be  a 
sudden  change  in  religious  opinion,  or  a spread  of  pessi- 
1 Kauchberg,  Bevolkerung  Oesterreichs,  p.  524. 


382 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY. 


mistic  views  of  life.  Statistical  regularities  will,  there- 
fore, be  subject  to  overturning  from  the  side  of  the  social 
environment.  An  example  of  this  is  seen  in  the  sudden 
and  unexpected  shifting  of  political  majorities  in  a large 
community.  The  relations  of  social  organization  some- 
times seem  to  change  in  a similar  way.  That,  notwith- 
standing these  rapid  changes,  the  great  facts  of  population 
remain  about  the  same,  is  a proof  of  the  enormous  power 
of  those  forces  which  lie  at  the  basis  of  society.  At  the 
same  time,  the  very  rapidity  of  these  changes  is  some- 
times favourable  to  statistics,  inasmuch  as  it  makes  it 
easier  to  isolate  the  peculiar  influence  which  causes  the 
disturbance.  It  must  never  be  forgotten  that  the  best 
work  in  statistics  remains  to  be  done,  not  so  much  in  the 
world-wide  investigations  covering  millions  of  individu- 
als, where  all  local  influences  are  effaced,  as  in  the  more 
minute  investigations  of  particular  conditions,  where  the 
specific  forces  can  be  detected. 

Social  Environment  and  Free-will.  The  more  complex 
the  social  environment,  the  more  difflcult  it  is  to  reduce 
all  the  phenomena  to  regularity,  and  hence  the  greater  the 
room  left  for  the  play  of  caprice.  It  will  be  impossible 
in  civilized  life  to  reduce  all  phenomena  to  regularities. 
The  individual  will  always  make  himself  felt.  This  cor- 
responds probably  to  reality,  for  with  social  self-conscious- 
ness, not  only  d oes  environment  modify  society,  but  society 
modifies  environment  with  a set  purpose  in  view.  Statistics 
explains  only  the  direction  of  the  changes.  It  remains 
for  the  sociologist  to  discover  the  purpose  under  which 
society  is  acting.  Statistics  is,  therefore,  subordinate  to 
sociology  inasmuch  as  it  cannot  pretend  to  explain  the 
social  forces  whose  existence  it  reveals  by  the  regularities 
and  the  irregularities  of  the  phenomena. 


INDEX  BY  TOPICS. 


Accidents  : deaths  from,  147 ; Ger- 
man insurance  against,  169;  suffer- 
ing from,  226. 

Acclimation : of  Europeans  in  tropical 
regions,  132. 

Acquitted : proportion  of  accused,  285. 

Advent ; marriages  in,  97. 

Age : Chapter  IV. ; classification  by, 

37 ; statistics  of,  46 ; importance  of 
distinction,  38;  and  sex,  43;  in  cit- 
ies, 44,  46;  population  by,  45,  46; 
productive  and  unproductive,  47 ; 
military,  47;  voting,  48;  school,  49; 
of  majority,  SO;  child-bearing,  50; 
marriageable,  50 ; average  age  of  the 
living,  50;  and  conjugal  condition, 

62 ; trustworthiness  of  statistics  of, 

59, 60 ; of  mothers  of  still-born,  79 ; at 
marriage,  103 ; of  bridegrooms  and 
brides,  105, 107 ; probability  of  mar- 
riage at  different  ages,  109 ; women 
of  child-bearing  age,  number  of 
children  to,  114;  at  different  ages, 
114;  deaths  according  to,  143;  in- 
fantile mortality,  144;  deaths  ac- 
cording to  conjugal  condition  and, 

146 ; accidental  deaths,  147 ; effect 
of,  on  birth-rate,  85 ; on  death 
rate,  150;  sickness  and,  157,  158; 
disease  and,  162;  expectation  of 
life  at  different  ages,  169;  average 
age  of  the  dying,  175;  average  age 
of  the  living,  176 ; illiteracy  by,  196 ; 
of  the  blind,  215 ; of  deaf-mutes, 
218 ; of  insane  and  idiotic,  222 ; of 
paupers,  230;  of  suicides,  247,  248; 
and  criminality,  278;  immigrants 
from  different  countries  according 
to,  323 ; of  emigrants  from  Ireland, 
320. 

Agriculture : proportion  of  population 
in,  199,  200;  criminals  engaged  in, 
275 ; agrarian  crime  in  Ireland,  267 ; I 

383 


influence  on  proportion  of  sexes,  57 ; 
on  births,  76  n. ; illegitimate  births, 
84 ; accidents  in,  159. 

Aliens : in  United  States,  48 ; who  do 
not  speak  English,  308. 

Altitude:  distribution  of  population 
in  accordance  with,  351;  ditto  of 
coloured  population,  299. 

Area  in  square  miles:  of  continents, 
344 ; of  countries  of  Europe,  344 ; of 
the  United  States,  353. 

Army:  mortality  in,  168;  at  home 
and  abroad,  132;  illiteracy  of  re- 
cruits, 195;  suicide  in,  250 ; strength 
of  German,  47 ; see  also  military 
age,  47. 

Artisans:  age  at  marriage,  104;  celi- 
bacy, 54  n. ; mortality,  165. 

Aryan  population  of  Russia,  295. 

Assimilation  of  nationalities  in  the 
United  States,  303,  312,  375. 

Asylums  for  the  insane,  idiotic,  etc., 
221,  228. 

Austrians : immigration  of,  to  the 
United  States,  321,  323. 

Average  age : of  the  dying,  175;  of  the 
living,  176. 

Averages,  23. 

Bachelors  : in  population,  53 ; bach- 
elor-bridegrooms, 103 ; see  also  Con- 
jugal condition. 

Bad  times : and  immigration,  325 ; and 
sickness,  158 ; and  suicide,  246. 

Bale : tenement  house  census,  193. 

Baltimore : expectation  of  life  of  white 
and  coloured  population  of,  171. 

Baptists : in  United  States,  198. 

Bedridden,  the : in  Massachusetts, 
227. 

Belgians:  immigration  of,  to  United 
States,  321;  marriage  with  French, 
111. 


384 


INDEX  BY  TOPICS. 


Berlin : marriage-rate,  98 ; death-rate, 
135, 136 ; expectation  of  life  of  males 
and  females  in,  171;  suicide  in, 
216;  population  of  military  age, 
47 ; deaths  according  to  months  in, 
140. 

Births  (and  Birth-rate)  : Chapter  V. ; 
purpose  of  statistics  of,  65;  crude 
birth-rate,  66,  68,  85,  87 ; influences 
on  birth-rate,  67,  91 ; birth-rates  for 
all  countries,  68;  influence  of  cli- 
mate, geographical  position,  and 
race,  68;  density  of  population  and, 
70;  in  city  and  country,  71 ; accord- 
ing to  religious  confession  and  social 
position,  73;  influence  of  war  on, 
73 ; of  price  of  food  on,  74 ; accord- 
ing to  seasons,  75;  sex  at  birth,  76; 
the  still-born,  78,  88;  multiple,  80; 
illegitimate,  81-84;  method  of  reg- 
istration of,  84 ; basis  for  compari- 
son of,  85;  births  to  married  and 
unmarried  women,  86;  importance 
of  statistics  of,  89;  regularity  of 
birth-rate,  91 ; reason  for  excess  of 
boys,  77 ; births  to  marriages,  113 ; 
to  women  of  child  bearing  age,  86, 
114;  to  women  of  various  ages, 
114;  birth-rate  and  death-rate,  139; 
born  blind,  215;  deaf-mutes  born 
of  same  parents,  218;  excess  of 
births  over  deaths  compared  with 
emigration,  319;  in  England,  com- 
pared with  deaths,  380. 

Blind,  the:  statistics  of,  213,  214;  age 
and  sex,  215 ; conjugal  condition, 
216;  education,  216:  occupation, 
216;  religious  confession,  216;  suf- 
fering from  other  infirmities,  225; 
in  Massachusetts,  227 ; schools  for, 
228 ; difficulties  of  statistics  of,  233. 

Blood  relations : marriages  between, 

112. 

Bohemians:  intermarriage  of  other 
nationalities  with,  305,  306. 

Boston : tenement  house  census  of, 
192. 

Boys  born  to  girls,  76 ; see  Sex. 

Bridegrooms : age  of,  103, 105. 

Brides  : age  of,  103,  105. 

Brooklyn : size  of  families  in,  185, 
186 ; persons  to  a house,  188 ; suicide 
in,  246. 

Buckle:  theory  of  society,  341. 

Bureaux  de  bienfaisance,  232. 


Canadians  : intermarriage  of,  with 
natives  in  United  States,  305,  306; 
immigration  of,  321. 

Catholics : number  of,  in  Europe,  197 ; 
in  United  States,  198;  still-born 
among,  78,  79;  illegitimate  births, 
83 ; marriage-rate,  97,  99 ; marriage 
of,  with  other  confessions,  110;  fe- 
cundity of  marriage  with  other  con- 
fessions, 115 ; fecundity  of  pure 
marriages,  115;  death-rate,  133; 
illiteracy  in  Ireland  among,  194; 
the  blind  among,  216;  deaf-mutes, 
218;  suicides,  245 ; crime,  274. 

Caucasian  race,  294. 

Celebration  of  marriage:  places  of, 

120. 

Celibacy,  53,  54;  see  also  Conjugal 
condition. 

Celtic-speaking  population  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland,  295. 

Celtic  blood : immigrants  of,  322. 

Centenarians : number  of,  61. 

Character : previous,  of  criminals,  275. 

Charity:  persons  supported  by,  226, 
227 ; see  also  Pauperism. 

Chicago,  size  of  families  in,  185,  186. 

Child-bearing  age : women  of,  50,  86. 

Children:  to  married  and  unmarried 
women,  86;  to  marriage,  113;  see 
also  Births ; mortality  among,  144 ; 
see  also  Deaths ; among  suicides, 
247 ; see  also  Age. 

Chinese:  in  United  States,  296;  immi- 
gration of,  321. 

Church  statistics  of  United  States, 
198. 

Cities:  sex  in,  44,  58;  age,  46;  birth- 
rate in,  71.  72,  75  n.;  still-born,  79; 
illegitimate  in,  83;  marriage-rate, 
98;  marriage  of  divorced  persons, 
108  n.;  mortality  in,  134;  ditto  ac- 
cording to  seasons,  140;  infantile 
mortality,  144,  145 ; death-rate  in 
cities  compared  with  country,  151-2 ; 
death-rate  in  French  and  German 
cities  from  certain  diseases,  163; 
families,  size  of.  185 : families  of 
different  size,  186;  houses  in,  and 
persons  to  a house,  188 ; tenement 
houses,  191 ; in  Boston,  192 ; suicide 
in,  246;  crime,  272;  foreign-born  in 
cities  in  United  States,  301 ; density 
of  population  in,  354 ; population  of 
London  and  Paris,  364;  concentra- 


INDEX  BY  TOPICS. 


385 


tion  of  population  in,  365 ; origin  of, 
365;  difficulty  in  defining  the  term, 
366 ; proportion  of  urban  population 
to  rural,  367 ; urban  population  in 
Germany,  367,  369 ; in  France,  367 ; 
in  England  and  Wales,  367,  369;  in 
Ireland,  367,  369;  in  the  United 
States,  367,  369;  growth  of,  369; 
reasons  for  growth  of,  370;  effect  of 
concentration  of  population  in,  370. 

Civilization:  and  population.  Chapter 
XVI. ; and  suicide,  256. 

Classes,  social : age  at  marriage,  101. 

Clergymen,  favourable  mortality  of, 
165,  167. 

Climate : influence  of,  on  proportion  of 
the  sexes,  62;  on  births,  68,  75n.; 
on  marriages,  96;  on  deaths,  132, 
111,  M2;  on  crime,  270. 

Code  Napoleon,  influence  on  still- 
births, 78. 

Colonies,  population  of,  364. 

Colonization,  movement  of,  314. 

Coloured  population  of  United  States, 
302  ; distribution  by  age,  46 ; birth- 
rate, 69  n.;  of  school  age,  49;  death- 
rate,  133;  expectation  of  life,  171; 
illiteracy,  196 ; pauperism,  232. 

Commerce,  proportion  of  population 
engaged  in,  199,  200. 

Commercial  clerks:  age  at  marriage, 
104 ; mortality,  165. 

Commercial  crises  and  immigration, 
325. 

Communities,  size  of,  363. 

Conceptions,  73  n.,  75  n. ; see  Births. 

Congenital  deaf-muteism,  218. 

Conjugal  condition:  classification  by, 
38;  statistics  of,  51;  by  age,  52,  53, 
55 ; native  and  foreign-born  by,  56 ; 
and  marriage,  107,  109;  deaths  ac- 
cording to,  146;  of  the  blind,  216; 
of  deaf-mutes,  218 ; of  insane  and 
idiotic,  223;  of  paupers,  230;  of  sui- 
cides, 249 ; and  criminality,  278,  279 ; 
immigration  of  families,  324 ; normal 
proportion  of  married  persons,  54; 
of  bachelors  and  single  women,  53. 

Convicted,  proportion  of  accused,  285. 

Country,  see  Rural  districts. 

Cretins  in  Austria,  213,  219. 

Crime : Chapter  XII. ; purpose  of 
statistics  of,  259 ; difficulties  of  sta- 
tistics of,  261 ; statistics  of,  263 ; 
against  the  person  and  against 
2 c 


property,  264-8;  increase  of,  265; 
kind  of  crime,  266 ; in  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland,  263, 267 ; in  France,  264, 
267 ; in  Germany,  265 ; in  United 
States,  268;  particular  crimes,  268; 
influences  on  crime,  269;  influence 
of  climate  and  geographical  posi- 
tion, 270 ; by  seasons,  271 ; in  city 
and  country,  272 ; social  influences 
on,  273;  foreign-born  and,  273; 
coloured  and,  273;  influence  of  re- 
ligious confession,  274;  influence  of 
social  position,  274 ; occupation  and 
profession,  275;  illiteracy  and,  276; 
influence  of  economic  conditions 
and  war,  277 ; influence  of  sex,  277 ; 
of  age,  278;  of  conjugal  condition, 
278 ; motive  for,  279 ; penalties,  280 ; 
habitual  criminals,  281-283 ; sources 
of  statistics,  283 ; difficulties  of  sta- 
tistics, 284;  important  and  unim- 
portant crimes,  286;  international 
comparison  of  criminality,  287 ; con- 
victs among  immigrants,  325;  among 
foreign-born,  334. 

Custom,  and  illegitimate  births,  81. 

Danes:  in  Germany,  294;  immigra- 
tion of,  to  United  States,  321 ; inter- 
marriage with  other  nationalities, 
305. 

Data  of  statistics,  nature  of,  31. 

Days:  lost  by  sickness,  158,  159;  sui- 
cide according  to  day  of  the  week, 
244. 

Deaf,  the,  217,  227. 

Deaf-mutes : statistics  of,  213,  217 ; 
sex,  217 : age,  218 ; conjugal  condi- 
tion, 218;  religious  confession,  218; 
education,  218;  occupation,  218; 
causes  of  infirmity,  218 ; congenital, 
218;  consanguinity  of  parents,  219; 
and  cretinism,  219;  combined  with 
other  misfortune,  225 ; in  Massa- 
chusetts, 227 ; schools  for  education 
of,  228. 

Deaths  (and  Death-rate) : Chapter 
VII. ; sociological  purpose  of  statis- 
tics of,  128 ; for  all  countries,  131, 148 ; 
influence  of  climate  and  geographi- 
cal position,  132 ; of  race  and  re- 
ligion, 132 ; of  density  of  population, 
133 ; in  cities,  45,  134 ; in  successive 
periods  of  time,  136 ; effect  of  war 
on,  137 ; of  scarcity  of  food,  137 ; 


386 


INDEX  BY  TOPICS. 


death-rate  and  birth-rate,  139;  ac- 
cording to  seasons,  140 ; ditto  com- 
bined with  ages,  142;  according  to 
sex,  41,  142;  according  to  age,  143; 
infantile  mortality,  144 ; among 
illegitimates,  145 ; according  to  con- 
jugal condition,  146;  accidental 
deaths,  147  ; method  of  observation, 
148 ; comparison  of  death-rates,  149 ; 
average  for  long  periods,  152;  rela- 
tion to  sickness,  158 ; from  disease, 
161 ; international  comparison  of 
mortality  from  different  diseases, 
163;  in  occupations,  164;  in  army, 
167 ; mortality  tables,  169 ; com- 
parative death-rates,  174;  average 
age  of  the  dying,  175, 177  ; decrease 
of  death-rate,  177,  179;  in  England 
compared  with  births,  380;  of  old 
persons  in  London  and  rural  dis- 
tricts, 45. 

Death  penalty,  280,  281. 

Deformed,  the,  226,  227. 

Demographic : classes,  6 ; distinc- 

tions, 9. 

Density  of  population : .343-349 ; and 
birth-rate,  70;  and  marriage-rate, 
97 ; and  death-rate,  133. 

Diphtheria,  163. 

Disease : statistics  of,  160-162 ; inter- 
national comparison  of  mortality 
from,  163;  in  various  occupations, 
166;  deaths  from,  in  war,  168;  diffi- 
culties of  classification,  173;  loss 
from,  177 ; effect  of  extinction  of,  on 
death-rate,  179;  see  also  Sickness. 

Diseased,  the,  226. 

Dissolution  of  marriage,  116. 

Divorce : statistics  of,  118-119 ; see  also 
Conjugal  condition;  re-marriage  of 
divorced  persons,  108. 

Domestic  service  : proportion  of  popu- 
lation in,  199,  200;  and  criminals, 
275. 

Double  infirmity,  225,  227. 

Dumb  not  deaf,  217  n.,  227. 

Duration  of  life : 168,  174 ; importance 
of,  177, 178. 

Duration  of  marriage : when  dissolved 
by  death,  116 ; by  divorce,  119. 

Dutch,  immigration  of,  to  United 
States,  321. 

Dwellings:  purpose  of  statistics  of, 
181 ; statistics  of,  187 ; in  cities,  188 ; 
tenement  houses,  192 ; kind  of,  188 ; 


house  accommodation,  190;  in  Ire- 
land, 189;  in  Boston,  192;  in  Bale, 
193;  definition  of,  203;  sociological 
significance  of,  207. 

Economic  Condition:  and  births,  74; 
and  marriages,  100,  101;  effect  on 
deaths,  137 ; on  average  age  of  the 
dying,  176 ; on  suicide,  246 ; on  crime, 
277 ; as  basis  of  social  condition,  206 ; 
of  immigrants,  324. 

Education:  purpose  of  statistics  of, 
181;  illiteracy,  193;  in  Ireland,  193; 
married  persons  signing  with  a 
mark,  194;  of  recruits,  195;  inter- 
national comparison  of  illiteracy, 
195 ; of  the  blind,  216 ; of  deaf-mutes, 
218 ; of  Insane  and  idiotic,  223 ; of 
paupers,  231 ; among  suicides,  245 ; 
among  criminals,  276. 

Emigration:  influence  of,  on  propor- 
tion of  sexes,  42,  59;  Chapter  XIV., 
314;  statistics  of,  317;  and  popu- 
lation, 318,  336 ; causes  of,  325 ; bal- 
ance of,  with  immigration,  326 ; loss 
by,  331,  332 ; deficiency  of  statistics, 
332. 

Employers,  proportion  of,  to  workmen, 

201. 

English  in  the  United  States : 300,  302 ; 
intermarriage  of,  with  natives,  305, 
306 ; immigration  of,  321,  322,  323. 

Environment,  physical:  Chapter  XV. ; 
sociological  purpose  of  the  investi- 
gation, 341;  Buckle’s  theory,  341; 
Herbert  Spencer,  342;  statistical 
data,  343 ; density  of  population,  343 ; 
density  of  population  in  United 
States,  346 ; latitude  and  longitude, 
348 ; topographical  features,  349 ; 
altitude,  351 ; temperature,  351 ; 
rainfall,  352;  humidity,  352;  char- 
acter of  soO,  352 ; scientific  tests, 
353;  reflective  analysis,  356;  and 
race,  299,  375;  relation  of,  to  popu- 
lation, 7, 12 ; influence  on  proportion 
of  the  sexes,  62;  on  births,  68;  on 
marriages,  96, 126 ; on  deaths,  132. 

Environment,  social:  Chapter  XIT., 
361 ; size  of  communities,  363  ; colo- 
nial power,  364;  concentration  of 
population  in  cities,  365;  wealth  and 
social  position,  371;  influence  of 
race,  372;  effaces  differences  of  na- 
tionality, 377 ; law  of  population. 


INDEX  BY  TOPICS. 


387 


377 ; and  statistics,  381 ; and  free- 
■wiU,  382 ; relation  of,  to  population, 
7,  12 ; influence  on  proportion  of  the 
sexes  and  on  ages,  63 ; on  births,  69, 
75;  public  opinion  and  illegitimate 
births,  81 ; religious  and  social  cus- 
toms on  time  of  marriage,  97;  and 
marriage,  126;  and  death,  129;  and 
crime,  273,  334. 

Ethiopians : proportion  of,  294. 

Ethnological  influence : on  suicide,  244. 

Ethnographic  statistics,  Book  III. : 
289;  classification,  6,  10,  289;  see 
Race  and  Nationality. 

Expectation  of  life;  169,  171, 174;  in- 
crease of,  178. 

Exports  and  marriages,  100  n.,  101. 

Families  ; Chapter  IX. ; purpose  of 
statistics  of,  181;  average  size  of, 
184,  203 ; in  cities,  185 ; of  different 
size,  185;  definition  of  term,  203; 
meaning  of  large  and  small,  204, 
208;  decreasing  size  of  American, 
328 ; children  to  marriages,  113. 

Family  life : course  of,  55 ; influence 
of,  64,  182,  204,  208. 

Farmers : age  at  marriage,  104 ; mor- 
tality of,  165. 

Farms : ownership  of,  202. 

Fecundity  of  marriage : 112 ; accord- 
ing to  size  of  family,  187 ; between 
persons  of  the  same  or  different 
religious  confession,  115;  of  native 
and  foreign-horn,  115;  according  to 
age  of  mothers,  114. 

Females : proportion  of,  to  males,  see 
Sex. 

Fines:  as  penalty,  280,  281. 

Food,  price  of : and  birth-rate,  74 ; and 
marriages,  100 ; and  death-rate,  137 ; 
effect  on  crime,  277. 

Foreign-born:  by  age,  46;  by  military 
age,  48 ; voting  age,  48 ; school  age, 
49 ; conjugal  condition  in  Massachu- 
setts, 56 ; fecundity  of  marriage,  115; 
birth-rate,  69  n.;  death-rate,  133; 
in  United  States,  300,  306;  parent- 
age of,  304 : intermarriage  with  na- 
tives, 111,  304 ; with  each  other,  306 ; 
aliens  who  do  not  speak  English, 
308;  in  Minnesota  and  Iowa,  375; 
infirm  among,  227 ; paupers  among, 
232 ; prisoners,  273,  334. 

Foreigners : in  European  countries,  310. 


Foreign  parentage : see  Parentage. 

Free-will : and  statistics,  27 ; in  con- 
nection with  marriage,  94, 127 ; with 
suicide,  239;  with  crime,  261,  288; 
and  social  environment,  382. 

French:  intermarriage  of  the,  305, 
306;  immigration  to  the  United 
States,  321,  324;  to  South  America, 
329. 

Friendly  societies : sickness  among 
members,  157. 

Fruitfulness  of  marriage:  see  Fecun- 
dity. 

Gaelic-speaking  population  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland,  295. 

Geographical  position : influence  of,  on 
births,  68 ; on  illegitimate  births,  82 ; 
on  marriages,  96,  103;  oh  deaths, 
132,  141 ; on  suicide,  243 ; on  crime, 
270,  271 ; distribution  of  the  infirm, 
214,  219,  225 ; distribution  of  col- 
oured in  the  United  States,  298,  299. 

Germanic  blood : and  suicide,  244 ; 
immigrants  of,  322. 

Germanic  countries:  illegitimate  births 
in,  82. 

Germans : in  United  States,  300 ; inter- 
marriage with  natives,  305,  306;  im- 
migration of,  321-324 ; marriage  with 
French,  111. 

Girls  horn  to  boys,  76 ; see  Sex. 

Glasgow : tenement-houses,  136. 

Graeco-Latin  stock,  294. 

Greek  Catholics,  197. 

Habitual  criminals,  281-283. 

Homes : ownership  of,  202. 

Homicide:  motive  for,  279;  punished 
for,  282. 

Hospitals  : number  in,  226,  227. 

Houses:  see  Dwellings. 

Humidity  and  population,  352. 

Hungarians : immigration  of,  to  United 
States,  321,  323,  324;  intermarriage 
with  other  nationalities,  305,  303. 

Husbands : in  excess  of  wives,  61 ; see 
Conjugal  condition. 

Idiotic,  the;  Chapter  X.;  statistics 
of,  213,  219-226 ; sex,  222 ; age,  222 ; 
education,  223 ; geographical  distri- 
bution, 225 ; in  Massachusetts,  227 ; 
institutions  for,  228 ; among  immi- 
grants, 325. 


388 


INDEX  BY  TOPICS. 


Illegitimates:  births,  81,  86;  among 
still-born,  79;  in  cities,  83;  by  re- 
ligious confession  of  mothers,  83; 
occupation  and  conjugal  condition 
of  mothers,  84 ; regularity  of  birth- 
rate, 91 ; excess  of  boys  among,  77 ; 
mortality  among,  145 ; as  indication 
of  morality  of  community,  81. 

Illiteracy:  statistics  of,  193-197;  inter- 
national comparison  of,  196 ; by  re- 
ligious confession,  194;  of  the  blind, 
216;  of  deaf-mutes,  218;  of  insane 
and  idiotic,  223 ; of  paupers,  231 ; 
among  suicides,  245;  among  crimi- 
nals, 276. 

Immigration  (and  Immigrants) : Chap- 
ter XIV. ; influence  of,  on  propor- 
tion of  sexes,  42,  43 ; on  age  distri- 
bution, 45;  statistics  of  emigration 
from  Europe,  317 ; into  United  States, 
321 ; according  to  race,  322 ; to  na- 
tionalities, 322 ; to  sex,  323 ; to  age, 
323;  proportion  of,  from  different 
countries,  322;  occupation  of,  324; 
economic  and  social  condition  of, 
324 ; causes  of,  325 ; money  brought 
by,  324 ; balance  of,  with  emigration, 
326;  effect  of,  on  population,  327, 
331,  332;  into  the  Argentine,  329; 
Brazil,  329;  Australia,  329;  Canada. 
329 ; gain  by,  331,  332 ; influence  of, 
on  new  countries,  337,  376. 

Imprisonment : as  penalty,  280,  281. 

Indians  in  United  States,  296. 

Industry : proportion  of  population  in, 
199,  200;  criminals  in,  275;  birth- 
rate in  industrial  counties  and  cities, 
70,  72 ; accidents  in,  159 ; as  affecting 
the  number  of  blind,  216. 

Infantile  mortality,  144. 

Infirm  (and Dependent), the : Chapter 
X. ; purpose  of  statistics  of,  210 ; 
statistics  of,  212;  the  blind,  213, 
225 ; deaf-mutes,  213,  217,  225 ; in- 
sane, 213,  219,  225;  idiotic,  213,  219; 
other  physical  infirmities,  226 ; pro- 
vision for,  228;  paupers,  228;  scien- 
tific tests  of  statistics  of,  233 ; eco- 
nomic loss,  235 ; among  immigrants, 
325. 

Insane,  the : Chapter  X. ; statistics  of, 
213,  219 ; increase  of,  220,  221 ; sex, 
221 ; age,  222 ; conjugal  condition, 
223 ; education,  223 ; occupation,  223 ; 
causes  of  insanity,  224;  combined 


with  other  misfortune,  224 ; in  Massa- 
chusetts, 227;  asylums  for,  228; 
among  immigrants,  325 ; among  sui- 
cides, 251. 

Insurance,  German : against  sickness, 
158;  accidents,  159. 

Insurance  companies:  expectation  of 
life  among,  171. 

Intermarriage:  between  different  re- 
ligious confessions,  races,  and  na- 
tionalities, 110,  304-306. 

Irish:  in  United  States,  .300,  301,  302; 
intermarriage  with  natives,  305,  306 ; 
immigration  to  United  States,  321, 

322,  323. 

Italians:  intermarriage  of,  305  , 306; 
immigration  to  United  States,  321, 

323,  324 ; to  South  America,  329. 

Jews:  number  of,  197;  still-born 

among,  79;  illegitimates,  83;  mar- 
riage-rate, 99;  marriage  with  Cath- 
olics and  Protestants,  110;  fecundity 
of  marriage,  115 ; death-rate,  133; 
expectation  of  life,  171;  the  blind 
among,  216 ; suicide,  245 ; criminal- 
ity, 274. 

Labourers:  age  at  marriage,  104; 
celibacy,  54  n. ; mortality,  165. 

Lame,  the,  226,  227. 

Land:  and  population.  Chapter  XV., 
341;  see  also  Environment  (phys- 
ical) and  Climate ; ownership  of, 
202. 

Language:  as  test  of  race,  294,  295, 
307;  in  the  United  States,  308; 
future,  of  the  world,  365. 

Larcenies:  nrunber  of,  269,  272,  276, 
277,  282,  287. 

Latin  blood : immigrants  of,  322. 

Latitude:  distribution  of  population 
by,  348. 

Law  of  population,  377. 

Laws,  sociological:  character  of,  15, 
26,  92,  125. 

Legitimate  and  illegitimate  children: 
mortality  of,  145. 

Lent : marriages  in,  97. 

Life:  duration  of,  168;  tables,  169, 
177 ; expectation  of,  169,  171,  174 ; 
money  value  of,  177 ; economic  value 
of,  178. 

Lithuanians : in  Germany,  294 ; in 
Russia,  295. 


INDEX  BY  TOPICS. 


389 


London:  death-rate,  135;  persons  to  a 
house,  188;  population  of,  364;  sui- 
cide in,  246 ; crime,  272 ; effect  of 
age  distribution  on  birth-rate,  86; 
marriage-rate,  98 ; paupers,  230. 

Longitude,  distribution  of  population 
by,  349. 

Lunatics,  see  Insane. 

Lung  diseases : effect  of  dust  on, 
166. 

Lutherans:  in  the  United  States, 
198. 

Maimed,  the,  227. 

Majority,  age  of,  50. 

Malays,  proportion  of,  294. 

Males,  proportion  of,  see  Sex. 

Manufacturing  and  mechanical  indus- 
tries, proportion  of  population  in, 
200. 

Marriageable  age,  50. 

Marriage  laws.  Bavarian,  54,  74,  81, 
105. 

Marriages  (and  Marriage-rate) : Chap- 
ter VI. ; sociological  purpose  of  sta- 
tistics of,  93;  marriage-rates  for 
various  countries,  95, 120  n. ; decline 
in,  96 ; influence  of  climate  and  geo- 
graphical position,  96,  103;  accord- 
ing to  seasons,  97 ; by  months,  97 ; 
density  of  population  and,  97 ; in 
city  and  country,  98;  by  race,  99; 
by  religious  confession,  99;  influ- 
ence of  war,  99;  influence  of  the 
price  of  food,  100;  probability  of, 
101;  age  at,  103;  by  occupations, 
104,  106 ; probability  of,  at  different 
ages,  107  ; according  to  conjugal  con- 
dition, 107,  109;  and  age,  109;  be- 
tween persons  of  different  religious 
confession,  race,  or  nationality,  110, 
304-306 ; between  blood  relations, 
112 ; fecundity  of,  112 ; fecundity  of, 
between  persons  of  different  relig- 
ious confession,  115 ; fecundity  of, 
between  persons  of  different  na- 
tionality, 115 ; fecundity  of,  accord- 
ing to  occupation  of  parents,  116; 
dissolution  of  marriage,  116 ; di- 
vorce, 118 ; scientific  tests  of  statis- 
tics of,  119  ; registration  of,  120 ; 
basis  for  comparison  of,  121 : influ- 
ence of  marriage,  123  ; marriage  and 
population,  124 ; fluctuations  in,  125 ; 
see  also  Conjugal  condition. 


Married  women : excess  of,  61 ; num- 
ber of  children  to,  86  ; see  also  Con- 
jugal condition. 

Married  persons;  proportion  of,  to 
marriages,  62. 

Measles,  162, 163. 

Mean-after-life,  see  Expectation  of 
life. 

Mental  infirmities:  Chapter  X.,  210; 
see  Idiotic  and  Insane. 

Method  of  study : Chapter  III.,  29. 

Methodists : in  the  United  States,  198. 

Migration;  Chapter  XIV.;  sociologi- 
cal purpose  of  statistics  of,  314; 
statistics  of  emigration,  317  ; immi- 
gration to  United  States,  321 ; ac- 
cording to  race,  322;  according  to 
nationalities,  322 ; according  to  sex 
and  age,  323;  occupation  of  immi- 
grants, 324;  economic  and  social 
condition  of,  324;  causes  of,  325; 
balance  of  emigration  and  immi- 
gration, 326 ; effect  of,  on  popula- 
tion, 318,  327 ; in  Argentine,  Brazil, 
Australia,  and  Canada,  329 ; internal 
migration,  329,  331 ; scientific  tests, 
332;  reflective  analysis,  336;  social 
effects  of,  335;  economic  influence 
of,  338;  character  of  the  phenome- 
non, 339;  influence  of,  on  formation 
of  races,  372;  effect  of,  on  propor- 
tion of  the  sexes,  44,  59. 

Miners : age  at  marriage,  104,  106 ; 
mortality  among,  165,  166. 

Mixed  marriages,  110. 

Money,  brought  by  immigrants,  324. 

Months,  see  Seasons. 

Mongolians,  proportion  of,  294. 

Morality:  public,  as  indicated  by 
illegitimate  births,  81. 

Morbidity,  see  Sickness. 

Mortality:  Chapter  VIII.,  154  ; from 
disease,  161 ; international  comiiari- 
son  of,  from  different  diseases,  163 ; 
according  to  occupations,  164^168  ; 
tables,  169 ; decrease  of  mortality, 
179,  180 ; excess  of,  among  males, 
41;  among  twins,  80 ; infantile,  144; 
see  also  Deaths. 

Mortgage  indebtedness,  in  United 
States,  202. 

Mothers : of  still-born,  79 ; of  illegiti- 
mates, 83,  84. 

Mud  hovels,  in  Ireland,  189. 

Mulattoes,  in  the  United  States,  297, 


390 


INDEX  BY  TOPICS. 


Multiple  births,  80. 

Murder : number  of  persons  con- 

demned for,  268,  269,  272,  287  ; mo- 
tive for,  279 ; habitual  criminals 
condemned  for,  282. 

Nationality:  Chapter  XIII.,  289; 
definition  of,  292 ; in  United  States, 
299-306 ; intermarriage  of  different, 
111,  304;  foreigners  in  different 
countries,  310 ; immigration  (United 
States)  according  to,  322;  mixtnre 
of,  in  United  States,  373-377  ; see 
also  Race. 

Native-born  (in  United  States) : by 
school  age,  49 ; voting  age,  48 ; mil- 
itary age,  47 ; married  women,  56 ; 
fecundity  of  marriage  among,  115; 
death-rate  of,  133;  paupers,  232; 
prisoners,  273,  274,  334 ; see  also 
Foreign-born. 

Native  parentage,  see  Parentage. 

Naturalization  of  foreign-born,  48. 

Nature:  influence  on  population. 
Chapter  XV.,  341 ; 361. 

Negligence,  accidents  due  to,  160. 

Negroes:  in  United  States,  see  Col- 
oured. 

New  York : families  in,  185, 186 ; per- 
sons to  a house,  188  ; expectation  of 
life,  171  ; suicides,  246. 

Norwegian:  intermarriage  of,  with 
other  nationalities,  305,  306;  immi- 
gration of,  321,  323. 

Occupations:  statistics  of,  199-201; 
employers  and  employees,  201 ; diffi- 
culty of  classification,  204;  of  the 
blind,  216;  of  deaf-mutes,  218;  of 
insane  and  idiotic,  223,  224  n. ; in- 
fluence on  suicide,  250;  and  crime, 
275 ; of  immigrants  (United  States) , 
324 ; age  at  marriage  of  men  in  dif- 
ferent, 103, 106;  mortality  according 
to,  164-168, 174 ; sickness  in  different, 
159,  173 ; accidents  in  different,  159 ; 
fecundity  of  marriage  according  to 
occupation  of  father,  116 ; of  parents 
of  still-born,  79;  of  mothers  of  ille- 
gitimates, 84. 

Octoroons : in  the  United  States,  297. 

Overcrowding  in  tenement  houses,  188, 
191,  192. 

Paralyzed,  the,  226,  227. 


Parentage : of  people  of  the  United 
States,  302-304;  mixed  parentage, 
111,  304-306;  consanguinity  of  par- 
ents of  deaf-mutes,  219;  birth-rate 
of  whites  of  native  and  foreign, 
69  n.;  death-rate,  133;  of  paupers, 
233;  of  prisoners,  273,  335. 

Paris ; population  of,  364 ; illegitimate 
births  in,  83;  marriage-rate,  99; 
mortality  in  rich  and  poor  quarters, 
136 ; crime  in,  270,  272,  273. 

Pauperism  (and  Paupers) : purpose  of 
statistics  of,  211 ; statistics  of,  228- 
233;  expenditure  on,  230;  in-door 
and  out-door,  229;  sex,  conjugal 
condition,  and  age,  230,  235;  illite- 
racj’’,  231 ; in  the  United  States,  232 ; 
among  the  foreign-born,  232 ; among 
immigrants,  325 ; difficulties  in  sta- 
tistics of,  234. 

Penalties  for  crime,  280. 

Pensioners : expectation  of  life  of,  171. 

Person : crimes  against  the,  264r-268, 
271,  275,  277,  278,  282. 

Philadelphia:  size  of  families  in,  185, 
186 ; suicide  in,  246. 

Phthisis : mortality  from,  177. 

Physical  infirmities:  Chapter  X.,  210; 
the  blind  and  deaf-mutes,  213-219; 
other  infirmities,  226-228. 

Poor-relief,  see  Pauperism. 

Population:  of  the  world,  344;  of 
countries  of  Europe,  344,  364;  of 
the  United  States,  368 ; of  colonies, 
364 ; density  of,  344-349 ; and  birth- 
rate, 70 ; and  marriage-rate,  97 ; and 
death-rate,  133;  effect  of  decrease 
of  marriage-rate  on,  124;  and  emi- 
gration, 318,  320,  331,  332,  336;  and 
immigi-ation,  327,  331 ; and  suicide, 
242;  and  crime,  265;  classification 
of,  6 ; law  of,  377 ; see  also  next  two 
headings. 

Population  and  land:  Chapter  XV.; 
sociological  purpose,  341 ; statistical 
data,  343;  density  of  population, 
343 ; in  Europe,  344 ; density  of,  in 
United  States,  346-349;  by  latitude 
and  longitude,  348 ; by  topographical 
features,  349;  by  altitude,  361;  by 
temperature,  351 ; rainfall,  352 ; hu- 
midity, 352 ; character  of  soil,  352 ; 
scientific  tests,  353;  reflective  analy- 
sis, 356;  no  direct  relation  between, 
357 ; influence  of  civilization,  359. 


INDEX  BY  TOPICS. 


391 


Population  and  civilization  : Chapter 
XVI.,  361 ; size  of  modern  communi- 
ties, 363;  concentration  of  popula- 
tion in  cities,  365 ; influence  of  wealth 
and  social  position,  371;  influence  of 
race,  372 ; law  of,  377 ; increase  of, 
in  civilized  countries,  378 ; relation 
of  births,  deaths,  and  marriages, 
379. 

Presbyterians  in  the  United  States, 
198. 

Prisoners:  in  the  United  States,  268, 
273;  suicide  among,  251. 

Price  of  food,  see  Food. 

Probability:  of  marriage,  101,  107, 
109 ; of  life,  see  Expectation  of  life. 

Productive  age,  47, 178. 

Professional  class : age  at  marriage, 
104,  106 ; mortality,  166, 167 ; insan- 
ity among,  224  n. 

Professions : proportion  of  population 
in,  199-201;  number  of  immigrants 
in,  324 ; see  also  Occupations. 

Property,  crimes  against,  264-268, 271, 
274,  275,  277,  278,  282. 

Property  in  land,  201,  202. 

Prosperous  years,  and  average  age  of 
the  dying,  176. 

Protestants : number  of,  197, 198 ; still- 
born among,  79 ; illegitimate  births, 
83 ; marriage-rate,  97,  99 ; marriage 
with  other  confessions,  110;  fecun- 
dity of  marriage,  115 ; death-rate, 
133;  illiteracy,  194;  blind,  216;  sui- 
cide, 245 ; crime,  274. 

Public  opinion  and  illegitimate  births, 
81. 

Quadroons:  in  the  United  States, 
297. 

Race  (and  Nationality) ; Chapter 
XIII.;  sociological  purpose  of  sta- 
tistics of,  289 ; definition  of,  290 ; 
statistics  of,  293 ; mixture  of  race  in 
same  country,  294r-296 ; in  the  United 
States,  296;  relative  increase  of 
whites  and  blacks,  297 ; nationalities 
in  United  States,  299;  foreign  par- 
entage in  United  States,  302 ; in- 
termarriage of  nationalities  with 
natives  in  United  States,  304 ; with 
each  other,  306 ; scientific  tests,  306 ; 
reflective  analysis,  312;  immigra- 
tion according  to,  322;  and  social 


environment,  372 ; theories  in  regard 
to  mixture  of,  373;  nationalities  in 
United  States,  373-377 ; influence 
of,  on  birth-rate,  68;  on  marriage- 
rate,  99;  and  suicide,  244;  see  also 
Coloured,  Foreign-born,  and  Nation- 
ality. 

Rainfall  and  population,  352,  299. 

Recruits  : illiteracy  of,  195,  190. 

Reflective  analysis,  35 ; see  same  head- 
ing under  each  chapter  in  Contents. 

Registration : of  births,  85 ; of  mar- 
riages, 120, 121;  of  deaths,  148. 

Relations:  marriages  between  blood, 

112. 

Religious  confession:  purpose  of  sta- 
tistics of,  181 ; statistics  of,  197 ; birth- 
rate according  to,  73 ; and  still-born, 
78,  79;  illegitimate  births,  83,  84; 
marriage-rate,  97,  99, 110 ; fecundity 
of  marriage  according  to,  115 ; death- 
rate,  133 ; of  the  blind,  216 ; of  deaf- 
mutes,  218;  of  insane  and  idiotic, 
223;  of  suicides,  245;  of  criminals, 
274. 

Romance  nations  and  suicide,  244. 

Rural  districts : proi)ortion  of  sexes 
in,  44,  45 ; illegitimate  births  in,  83 ; 
death-rate,  134,  162;  infantile  mor- 
tality in,  145 ; crime,  272. 

Russians : intermarriage  of,  305,  306 ; 
immigration  of,  321,  323,  325. 

Sachsengangerei,  330. 

Sadler’s  theory  of  proportion  of  sexes 
at  birth,  77. 

Scandinavians : in  the  United  States, 
300;  intermarriage  with,  305,  306; 
immigration  of,  321,  323. 

Scarcity  years,  and  average  age  of  the 
dying,  176. 

Scarlet  fever:  mortality  from,  162, 
163. 

School  age,  49. 

Schools  for  the  blind  and  deaf-mutes, 
228. 

Science  of  statistics,  see  Statistics. 

Scientific  tests  of  statistics,  32;  see 
also  Chapter  II.,  Criteria  of  Statis- 
tics ; see  same  heading  under  each 
chapter  in  Contents. 

Scotch:  intermarriage  of,  305,  306; 
immigration  of,  321,  323. 

Seasons : births  according  to,  76 ; mar- 
riages, 97 ; deaths,  140, 142 ; diseases, 


392 


INDEX  BY  TOPICS. 


162;  pauperism,  230;  suicide,  243; 
crime,  271 ; emigration,  318. 

Sex : distinction  of,  36 ; proportion  of, 
in  various  countries,  40-44,  56-59; 
causes  of  excess  of  females,  41,  44, 
57-59;  influence  of  emigration,  42, 
59;  in  United  States,  43;  at  different 
ages,  43;  in  cities,  44,  58;  conjugal 
condition  and,  51,  53;  scientific  tests 
of  statistics  of,  56;  natural  influ- 
ences on  proportion  of,  62 ; sociolog- 
ical results  of  varying  proportion 
of,  64;  at  birth,  76;  among  still- 
born, 77 ; probability  of  marriage 
by,  102 ; at  different  ages,  107 ; deaths 
according  to,  142 ; deaths  according 
to  conjugal  condition  and,  146;  dis- 
ease and,  162 ; expectation  of  life 
and,  169,  170;  employers  and  em- 
ployees, 201 ; in  occupations  in 
United  States,  200;  of  illiterates, 
194,  195;  of  the  blind,  215;  of  deaf- 
mutes,  217 ; of  insane  and  idiotic, 
221;  of  paupers,  229,  230,  233;  of 
suicides,  247-249,  255 ; among  crim- 
inals, 277,279;  among  habitual  crim- 
inals, 281-283;  immigrants  from 
different  countries  according  to, 
323. 

Shopkeepers:  age  at  marriage,  104; 
celibacy,  54  n. ; mortality,  165. 

Sickness:  Chapter  VIll.;  purpose  of 
statistics  of,  154 ; statistics  of,  157 ; 
among  members  of  Friendly  socie- 
ties, 157 ; in  Germany,  158 ; accord- 
ing to  occupations,  159 ; accident  in- 
surance, 159;  statistics  of  disease, 
160;  methods  of  observation,  172; 
loss  by,  177. 

Simulation : of  sickness,  172. 

Single,  the  : see  Conjugal  condition. 

Slavonic  stock,  294. 

Slavs : in  Russia,  295. 

Smallpox:  mortality  from,  163. 

Social  classes : 6,  10 ; birth-rate  among 
different,  73, 90 ; death-rate  and,  136 ; 
infantile  mortality,  145 ; crime  and, 
274. 

Social  condition : Chapter  IX. ; socio- 
logical purpose  of  statistics  of,  181 ; 
statistics  of  families,  183;  of  dwell- 
ings, 187 ; of  education,  193 ; of  re- 
ligious confession,  197 ; of  occupa- 
tions, 199 ; ownership  of  land,  201 ; 
employers  and  employees,  201 ; farm 


and  home  ownership,  202;  classes, 
202 ; of  immigrants,  325. 

Social  environment,  see  Environment 
(social) . 

Social  statistics : Book  II.,  181. 

Sociological  purpose : 29 ; of  statistics 
of  sex,  age,  and  conjugal  condition, 
36;  of  births,  65;  of  marriages,  93; 
of  deaths,  128 ; of  sickness  and  mor- 
tality, 154;  of  social  condition,  181; 
of  the  infirm  and  dependent,  210; 
of  suicide,  238 ; of  crime,  259 ; of 
race  and  nationality,  289 ; of  migra- 
tion, 314;  of  population  and  land, 
341. 


Sociology : definition  of,  1 ; difficulties 
of,  3 ; false  analogies  of,  5 ; material 
of,  6;  method  of,  7;  statistics  in  the 
service  of.  Chapter  I. ; statistical 
method  in,  8;  dynamic,  14;  problems 
of,  16;  statistics  an  instrument  of 
investigation  in,  17 ; sociological 
laws,  26,  91 ; ethnographic  classifi- 
cation in,  289;  statistics  and,  38?7 
see  also  Sociological  purpose. 

Soil:  character  of  the,  and  population , 


352. 


Spaniards : immigration  to  the  United 
States,  321;  to  South  America,  329. 
St.  Louis:  size  of  families  in,  185, 
186. 


Standard  population:  for  calculating 
death-rates,  150. 

Statistics:  science  of,  8;  office  of,  15; 
laws  of,  16;  criteria  of.  Chapter  II., 
17 ; as  instrument  of  investigation 
in  sociology,  17 ; collecting  the  ma- 
terial, 19;  schedules,  21;  arranging 
and  tabulating  the  material,  22;  av- 
erages and  rates,  23;  regularities  of , 
26;  sociological  purpose  of,  29;  data 
of,  31;  scientific  tests  of,  32;  tech- 
nique of,  33;  and  social  environment, 
381;  in  the  service  of  sociology. 
Chapter  I.;  see  also  Sociological 
purpose. 

Statistical  data:  see  same  heading  in 
each  chapter  in  Contents. 

Still-born : number  of,  78 ; excess  of 
hoys  among,  77 ; according  to  re- 
ligious confession  and  occupation  of 
parents,  79;  according  to  age  of 
mothers,  79 ; registration  of,  87. 

Suicide : Chapter  XI. : sociological  pur- 
pose of  statistics  of,  238 ; question  of 


INDEX  BY  TOPICS. 


393 


free-will,  239;  statistics  of,  241;  reg- 
ularity of,  242, 254 ; increase  of,  242 ; 
influence  of  climate,  242 ; of  seasons, 
243 ; of  days  of  the  week,  244 ; eth- 
nological influence,  244 ; social  influ- 
ences on,  245 ; influence  of  education, 
245;  influence  of  economic  condi- 
tion, 246;  suicide  in  cities,  246; 
women  among,  247 ; age  of,  247 ; 
combination  of  sex  and  age,  248; 
conjugal  condition,  249 ; influence  of 
occupation,  250;  in  army,  250;  among 
prisoners,  251 ; motive  for,  251,  253; 
method  and  place  of,  252 ; scientific 
tests  of  statistics  of,  253;  loss  by, 
255 ; civilization  and,  256. 

Super-organic  influence  on  assimila- 
tion of  nationalities,  376. 

Suspected  persons,  272. 

Swedes : intermarriage  with,  305,  306 ; 
immigration  of,  to  the  United  States, 
321,  324. 

Swiss,  immigration  of,  to  the  United 
States,  321,  324. 

Temperature  and  population,  299, 
351. 

Tenement  houses:  in  Boston,  192;  in 
Bale,  193 ; overcrowding  in,  188, 191 ; 
mortality  in,  136 ; effect  of,  207 ; 
problem  of  statistics  of,  208. 

Teutonic  stock:  294;  population  in 
Russia,  295. 


Topography:  distribution  of  popula- 
tion by,  349. 

Trade  and  transportation : proportion 
of  population  in,  199,  200. 

Trade : criminality  among  persons  en- 
gaged in,  275. 

Tuberculosis : mortality  from,  163. 

Turanian  population  of  Russia,  295. 

Twins,  80. 

Typhoid  fever : mortality  from,  163. 

Urban  population,  see  Cities. 

Violence  : deaths  due  to,  147, 161. 

Voting  age,  48. 

Walloons  in  Germany,  294. 

War : influence  of,  on  birth-rate,  73 ; 
on  marriage-rate,  99 ; on  death-rate, 
137 ; on  crime,  277 ; see  also  Army. 

Wealth  and  population,  371. 

Welsh-speaking  population  of  Wales, 
295;  intermarriage  with,  in  United 
States,  305. 

Whites  (in  United  States)  : number, 
302 ; age  of  foreign  whites,  46 ; birth- 
rate, 69  n.;  death-rate,  133 ; illiteracy, 
196 ; pauperism,  232 ; prisoners,  273, 
274;  distribution  of,  301. 

Widowed,  see  Conjugal  condition. 

Women:  of  child-bearing  age,  50,  86; 
of  married  in  excess  of  men,  61 ; age 
of,  60 ; see  also  Sex. 


INDEX  BY  COUNTRIES. 


Aprica:  population  and  area,  344; 
sex,  40. 

America:  population  and  area,  344; 
sex,  40. 

Argentine : immigration,  318,  329. 
Asia:  population  and  area,  344;  sex, 
40. 

Australasia,  statistics  of ; 

Divorce,  118. 

Immigration,  329. 

Population  and  area,  344. 

Sex,  40. 

Austria,  statistics  of : 

Births,  68,  75  n.,  76,  78,  80,  82,  113, 
114. 

Blind,  213. 

Conjugal  condition,  51. 

Cretinism,  219,  225. 

Crime,  276,  281,  287. 

Deaf-mutes,  213,  219. 

Deaths,  131, 142, 144,  145, 151, 163. 
Disease,  163. 

Dwellings  (Houses),  187. 

Families,  184, 187. 

Idiotic,  213. 

Illiteracy,  194,  196,  276. 

Insane,  213. 

Marriages,  95,  99,  102, 113,  114, 118. 
Migration,  317,  318,  321,  323. 
Pauperism,  232. 

Population,  344,  364. 

Race  and  nationality,  295. 

Religious  confession,  197. 

Sex,  40,  51,  76,  78, 142. 

Suicide,  241,  244,  246,  250. 

Bavaria,  statistics  of : 

Age,  51,  105. 

Births,  73,  74,  79,  80-82. 

Cities,  367. 

Conjugal  condition,  54. 

Deaths,  133, 144-146. 

Marriages,  100, 105, 112. 


Population,  346. 

Religious  confession,  133. 

Sex,  105. 

Suicide,  241. 

Belgium,  statistics  of : 

Age,  177,  196. 

Births,  68,  76,  78,  80,  82,  113, 114. 
Conjugal  condition,  51,  54. 

Deaths,  131,  145,  163, 177. 

Disease,  163. 

Illiteracy,  196. 

Marriages,  95,  111,  113, 114, 118. 
Migration,  321. 

Population,  344. 

Sex,  40,  51,  76. 

Suicide,  241,  250. 

Brazil : migration,  318,  329. 

Canada  , statistics  of : 

Divorce,  118. 

Migration,  305,  329. 

China,  population,  density  of,  344. 

Denmark,  statistics  of : 

Age,  114,  177,  255. 

Births,  68,  78,  80,  82,  113,  114,  319, 
Cities,  246. 

Deaths,  131,  142-144,  177,  319. 
Illiteracy,  196. 

Marriages,  95,  113, 114, 117, 118. 
Migration,  319,  321,  327. 

Population,  345. 

Race  and  nationality,  305. 

Religious  confession,  197. 

Sex,  40,  142,  143,  255. 

Suicide,  241,  246,  254,  255. 

England  and  Wales,  statistics  of  ; 
Age,  44,  45-47,  49,  50,  60,  85,  86,  103- 
106, 109, 157, 158, 169,  177,  222, 230, 
248. 

Births,  41,  68,  70,  71,  75,  76,  82,  85, 
86,  113,  319,  380. 


396 


396 


INDEX  BY  COUNTRIES. 


Blind,  213,  215,  217,  225. 

Cities,  44,  71,  134,  1.35,  144,  151,  152, 
188,  191,  24C,  272,  366,  367,  369. 
Con]'ugal  condition,  54,  61,  62,  86, 
103,  109,  230. 

Crime,  263,  264,  267,  268,  272,  274, 

276,  277,  280-282,  285,  287. 
Deaf-mutes,  213,  217,  225. 

Deaths,  41,  131,  134,  135,  1.37,  139, 

142,  144,  147,  149-151, 152,161,  163, 
164,  168, 169, 177-180,  319,  380. 
Disease,  161-163,  177. 

Dweiiings,  187,  188,  191. 

Expectation  of  life,  169-171, 175, 178, 
179. 

Families,  184. 

Idiotic,  213,  222. 

Illiteracy,  194,  196,  231,  276. 

Insane,  213,  220,  222,  222  n.,  225. 
Marriages,  95,  96,  98,  100  n.,  101, 
103-106,  109,  113,  117,  120,  124. 
Migration,  42,  319,  321-323. 
Occupations,  104,  106,  164,  199,  217. 
Pauperism,  229-231,  235. 

Population,  346,  353,  379,  380. 

Race  and  nationality,  295,  300-302, 
305,  306. 

Sex,  40,  41,  42,  44,  50,  58,  76,  103- 
106,  109,  142,  157,  169,  194,  217, 
221  n.,  222,  229,  230,  247,  248,  281, 
282,  323. 

Sickness,  157,  158. 

Suicide,  241-244,  246-248,  250. 
Europe,  statistics  of ; 

Migration,  317. 

Population  and  area,  344,  378. 

Sex,  40. 

Finland,  statistics  of : 

Age,  114. 

Births,  114. 

Marriages,  114. 

Population,  345. 

France,  statistics  of : 

Age,  45-47,  50,  51,  105,  177,  247. 
Births,  68,  75  n.,  76-78,  80,  82,  83, 
113,  114,  319. 

Blind,  225. 

Cities,  83,  99,  136,  163,  272,  367,  369. 
Conjugal  condition,  51,  279. 

Crime,  264,  265,  267,  269,  270,  272, 

277,  279,  280,  283,  287. 

Deaths,  131,  136,  137,  140,  142-145, 
150,  163,  177,  319. 

Disease,  163,  251. 


Dwellings,  187. 

Expectation  of  life,  170, 171. 

Families,  184,  185, 187. 

Idiotic,  225. 

Illiteracy,  195,  196,  277. 

Insane,  224  n. 

Marriages,  95,  99, 100, 102,  105,  111- 
114,  118. 

Migration,  318,  319,  321,  324,  329. 

Occupations,  200, 224  n. 

Pauperism,  2.32. 

Population,  242,  345,  364,  365. 

Race  and  nationality,  305,  310. 

Sex,  40.  44,  50,  51,  76,  77,  105,  142, 
143,  170,  247,  251. 

Suicide,  241,  242,  244,  247,  250,  251, 
256. 

Germany,  statistics  of : 

Age,  43,  45-50,  53,  106,  107,  114,  146, 
160,  278. 

Army,  47. 

Births,  68,  71,  74,  76-78,  80,  83,  87, 
91,  114,  139,  319. 

Blind,  233. 

Cities,  46,  47,  58,  71,  83,  98,  135,  136, 
140,  163,  246,  367,  369. 

Conjugal  condition,  51,  53,  54,  61, 
146. 

Crime,  265,  268  , 271,  274,  275  , 277, 
278,  281-283,  286,  287. 

Deaths,  117,  131,  135,  137-143,  145, 
146, 153, 163,  168,  319. 

Disease,  163. 

Dwellings,  187. 

Expectation  of  life,  170, 171. 

Families,  184,  187. 

Idiotic,  225. 

Illiteracy,  195, 196. 

Insane,  225. 

Marriages,  95  , 97,  98,  100,  102,  106, 
107,  111,  114,  117,  118,  125. 

Migration,  43,  317-319,  321-324,  327, 
331,  332. 

Occupations,  159,  200,  275,  276. 

Pauperism,  231. 

Population,  344,  345,  354,  364. 

Race  and  nationality,  294,  300-302, 
305,  306,  310. 

Religious  confession,  197,  274. 

Sex,  40,  43,  51,  53,  57,  61,  76-78,  102, 
106, 107,  142, 143,  146, 160,  170,  277, 
282,  323. 

Sickness,  158-160. 

Suicide,  24:1,  244,  246, 250. 


INDEX  BY  COUNTEIES. 


397 


Great  Britain,  statistics  of: 

Births,  68,  319. 

Conjugal  condition,  51. 

Crime,  263,  264. 

Deaths,  131, 132,  143, 144,  319. 
Marriages,  95, 101, 102, 118. 
Migration,  317,  319,  321. 
Occupations,  199. 

Pauperism,  229. 

Population,  345,  364. 

Race  and  nationality,  295. 

Sex,  51,  143. 

Greece,  statistics  of: 

Births,  75  n. 

Deaths,  142. 

Population,  345. 

Sex,  40, 142. 

Holland,  statistics  of : 

Age,  177. 

Births,  68,  75  n.,  76,  78,  80,  82,  113, 
114. 

Conjugal  condition,  51,  54. 

Deaths,  131,  142-144,  163, 177. 
Disease,  163. 

Illiteracy,  196. 

Marriages,  95, 113,  114, 118. 
Migration,  321. 

Pauperism,  232. 

Population,  344,  365. 

Religious  confession,  197. 

Sex,  40,  51,  76,  142,  143. 

Suicide,  241. 

Hungary,  statistics  of : 

Births,  68,  78. 

Blind,  213,  215. 

Conjugal  condition,  51. 

Crime,  277. 

Deaf-mutes,  213. 

Deaths,  131, 142. 

Idiotic,  213. 

Illiteracy,  196,  277. 

Insane,  213. 

Marriages,  95, 102, 108. 

Migration,  317,  318,  323,  324. 

Race  and  nationality,  305,  306. 
Religious  confession,  197. 

Sex,  40,  51,  142,  323, 

India,  statistics  of : 

Age,  56,  60. 

Births,  69. 

Deaths,  69, 168. 

Sex,  56. 


Ireland,  statistics  of : 

Age,  45,  46,  218,  320. 

Births,  68,  76,  82,  84,  113,  218,  319. 
Blind,  213-217,  225,  228,  233. 

Cities,  367,  369. 

Conjugal  condition,  51,  54,  223,  230. 
Crime,  263,  264,  267,  287. 
Deaf-mutes,  213,  217  n.,  218,  219,  226, 
228. 

Deaths,  131,  143, 144, 163,  319. 
Disease,  163,  224,  226. 

Dwellings,  187,  189,  190. 

Families,  184,  187. 

Idiotic,  213,  221-224,  228. 

Illiteracy,  193,  194, 196,  216,  218,  223, 
231. 

Insane,  213,  220,  221  n.,  222-224,  226, 
228. 

Marriages,  95,  102, 113, 118,  219. 
Migration,  319-324,  327. 
Occupations,  199,  217,  218,  223. 
Pauperism,  229-231. 

Population,  320,  346,  378. 

Race  and  nationality,  295,  300-302, 
305,  306. 

Religious  confession,  194,  197,  216, 
218. 

Sex,  40,  42,  51,  76,  143,  194,  221  n., 
229,  230,  323. 

Suicide,  241. 

Italy,  statistics  of : 

Age,  105,  256. 

Births,  68,  75  n.,  76,  78,  80,  82,  113, 
114,  319. 

Conjugal  condition,  51,  54,  249. 
Crime,  271,  287. 

Deaths,  131,  140,  142-144,  147,  163, 
319. 

Disease,  163,  251. 

Illiteracy,  196,  246. 

Marriages,  95,  102,  105,  111,  112-114, 
118. 

Migration,  317-319,  321,  323,  324, 
329,  333. 

Occupations,  250. 

Population,  242,  345,  364. 

Race  and  nationality,  302,  305,  306. 
Sex,  40,  41,  51,  76,  78,  105,  142,  143, 
247,  251,  323. 

Suicide,  241,  242,  244,  246,  247,  249, 
250,  251,  256. 

Massachusetts,  statistics  of: 

Age,  43,  59. 

Births,  76,  78.115. 


398 


INDEX  BY  COUNTRIES. 


Conjugal  condition,  56. 

Dwellings,  192. 

Families,  192,  203. 

Illiteracy,  194. 

Infirm,  227,  228. 

Marriages,  111. 

Population,  347. 

Race  and  nationality,  66. 

Sex,  43,  76,  78. 

Suicide,  241. 

Norway,  statistics  of : 

Age,  103,  105,  114. 

Births,  68,  78,  80, 114,  319. 

Blind,  213. 

Conjugal  condition,  51,  54. 
Deaf-mutes,  213. 

Deaths,  131,  142,  144,  145,  319. 
Idiotic,  213. 

Insane,  213. 

Marriages,  95,  102, 103, 105, 109,  114, 
117,  118. 

Migration,  317,  319,  321,  323. 
Pauperism,  232. 

Population,  345. 

Race  and  nationality,  115,  300,  301, 
305,  306. 

Religious  confession,  197. 

Sex,  40,  51, 103,  105,  142,  323. 
Suicide,  241. 

Oceanic  Islands;  population  and 
area,  341. 

Polar  Regions  : population  and  area, 
344. 

Portugal : population,  345. 

Prussia,  statistics  of : 

Age,  60,  61,  103-105,  176-178,  247, 
248. 

Births,  70,  79,  80,  82-84,  113,  115. 
Blind,  216. 

Cities,  58,  140,  246,  367. 

Conjugal  condition,  55, 108, 216, 218, 
279. 

Crime,  271,  277,  279. 

Deaf-mutes,  218. 

Deaths,  131,  133,  137,  140,  142,  144, 
145,  163,  176,  177. 

Disease,  163,  251. 

Illiteracy,  195,  196. 

Marriages,  95,  98,  99,  102-105,  108, 
110,  112,  113,  115-117. 

Migration,  59,  320,  330-332. 
Occupations,  104,  116,  201. 


Population,  242,  346. 

Race  and  nationality,  294,  296. 
Religious  confession,  79,  83,  99,  110, 
115,  133,  216,  218,  245. 

Sex,  55,  58,  59, 102-105, 142, 195,  247, 
248,  251. 

Suicide,  241-248,  251,  253,  254,  256. 

Roumania,  statistics  of : 

Deaths,  142. 

Illiteracy,  196. 

Marriages,  118. 

Population,  345. 

Sex,  142. 

Russia,  statistics  of: 

Age,  105. 

Deaths,  142,  144. 

Illiteracy,  196. 

Marriages,  105, 118. 

Migration,  317,  321,  323,  326. 
Population,  345,  364. 

Race  and  nationality,  295,  306,  306. 
Sex,  105,  323. 

Suicide,  241,  250. 

Scotland,  statistics  of : 

Age,  46,  105,  222. 

Births,  68,  76,  80,  82,  319. 

Blind,  213-215. 

Cities,  136, 191,  367. 

Crime,  263,  264,  267,  287. 

Deaf-mutes,  213,  217,  218. 

Deaths,  131,  136,  319. 

Dwellings,  187, 191. 

Families,  184,  191. 

Idiotic,  213,  221,  222. 

Illiteracy,  194, 196. 

Insane,  213,  221,  222. 

Marriages,  95,  97,  105. 

Migration,  42,  319,  321,  323. 
Occupations,  199,  201. 

Pauperism,  229. 

Population,  346. 

Race  and  nationality,  295,  305. 

Sex,  40,  42,  44,  76,  105,  194,  201,  229, 
323. 

Suicide,  241. 

Servia,  statistics  of; 

Deaths,  142. 

Illiteracy,  196. 

Population,  345. 

Sex,  40,  142. 

Spain,  statistics  of : 

Births,  75n.,  80, 113. 

Cities,  367. 


INDEX  BY  COUNTRIES. 


399 


Crime,  287. 

Marriages,  113. 

Migration,  321,  329. 

Population,  345,  364,  365. 

Suicide,  241. 

Sweden,  statistics  of : 

Age,  105,  114,  177. 

Births,  68,  75 n.,  78,  80,  82,  113,  114, 
319. 

Blind,  213,  215. 

Conjugal  condition,  51,  54. 
Deaf-mutes,  213. 

Deaths,  131,  140,  142,  144,  163,  177, 
319. 

Disease,  163. 

Idiotic,  213. 

Illiteracy,  196. 

Insane,  213. 

Marriages,  95,  97,  102,  105,  109, 113, 
114,  118. 

Migration,  317,  319,  321,  323. 
Pauperism,  232. 

Population,  242,  345. 

Race  and  nationality,  300,  305. 
Religious  confession,  197. 

Sex,  40,  51,  78,  105,  142. 

Suicide,  241,  242,  246. 

Switzerland,  statistics  of: 

Births,  68,  76,  78,  80,  114,  319. 
Conjugal  condition,  51,  54. 

Deaths,  131, 142,  143, 163,  319. 
Disease,  163. 

Dwellings,  193. 

Families,  184, 193. 

Illiteracy,  196. 

Marriages,  95,  102,  111,  114, 118. 
Migration,  318,  319,  321,  324. 
Population,  344. 


Race  and  nationality,  295,  310. 
Religious  confession,  197. 

Sex,  40,  51,  76,  142,  143. 
Suicide,  241,  244. 


Turkey  : population,  345. 


United  States,  statistics  of: 

Age,  45^9,  323. 

Births,  69,  76,  78. 

Blind,  213-215,  228. 

Cities,  171,  185,  186,  188,  192,  246, 
301,  366-369. 

Crime,  268,  269,  273,  278,  325. 
Deaf-mutes,  213. 

Deaths,  133. 

Diseased,  226,  227. 

Dwellings,  187,  188,  192. 

Expectation  of  life,  171. 

Families,  184^187,  192. 

Idiotic,  213. 

Illiteracy,  196. 

Insane,  213,  221. 

Marriages,  111,  118, 120. 

Migration,  42,  43,  317,  318,  321-328, 
330,  334. 

Occupations,  200,  324. 

Pauperism,  232,  234. 

Population,  346-353,  355,  368. 

Race  and  nationality,  46,  48,  49,  69, 
111,  133,  171,  196,  233,  273,  274, 
296-306,  308,  310,  322,  323,  334,  335, 
373-376. 

Religious  confession,  198. 

Sex,  40,  4^-44,  76,  78,  171,  200,  215, 
233,  278. 

Suicide,  241,  246. 


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Edward  Bierstadt  of  New  York.  The  plates  are  accompanied  by  an  explanatory 
text,  giving  a general  introduction  to  the  subject  for  the  use  of  students  and  general 
readers,  a detailed  description  of  the  photographs,  and  over  sixty  text  figures  from 
camera  drawings. 

It  is  the  object  of  this  atlas  to  place  before  students  and  teachers  of  biology  a 
practically  continuous  series  of  figures,  photographed  directly  from  nature,  to  illus- 
trate the  principal  phenomena  in  the  fertilization  and  early  development  of  the 
animal  egg.  The  new  science  of  cytology  has  in  the  course  of  the  past  two  decades 
brought  forward  discoveries  relating  to  the  fertilization  of  the  egg  and  the  closely 
related  subject  of  cell-division  (karyokinesis)  that  have  called  forth  on  the  part  of 
Weismann  and  others  some  of  the  most  important  and  suggestive  discussions 
of  the  post-Darwinian  biology.  These  discoveries  must  in  some  measure  be  dealt 
with  by  every  modern  text-book  of  morphology  or  physiology ; yet  they  belong  to  a 
region  of  observation  inaccessible  to  the  general  reader  or  student,  since  it  can  only 
be  approached  by  means  of  a refined  histological  technique  applied  to  special 
objects  not  ordinarily  available  for  practical  study  or  demonstration.  A knowledge 
of  the  subject  must  therefore,  in  most  cases,  be  acquired  from  text-books  in  which 
drawings  are  made  to  take  the  place  of  the  real  object.  But  no  drawing,  however 
excellent,  can  convey  an  accurate  mental  picture  of  the  real  object.  It  is  extremely 
difficult  for  even  the  most  skilful  draughtsman  to  represent  in  a drawing  the  exact 
appearance  of  protoplasm  and  the  delicate  and  complicated  apparatus  of  the  cell. 
It  is  impossible  adequately  to  reproduce  the  drawing  in  a black-and-white  text-book 
figure.  Every  such  figure  must  necessarily  be  in  some  measure  schematic  and 
embodies  a considerable  subjective  element  of  interpretation. 

The  photograph,  whatever  be  its  shortcomings  (and  no  photograph  can  do  full 
justice  to  nature),  at  least  gives  an  absolutely  faithful  representation  of  what  appears 
under  the  microscope  ; it  contains  no  subjective  element  save  that  involved  in  the 
focussing  of  the  instrument,  and  hence  conveys  a true  mental  picture.  It  is  hoped, 
therefore,  that  the  present  work  may  serve  a useful  purpose,  especially  by  enabling 
teachers  of  biology  to  place  before  their  students  a series  of  illustrations  whose 
fidelity  is  beyond  question,  and  which  may  serve  as  a basis  for  either  elementary  or 
advanced  work  in  this  direction. 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY, 

66  FIFTH  AVENUE,  NEW  YORK. 


PUBLICATIONS  OF  THE  COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  PRESS. 


SCIENCE  OF  STATISTICS.  PART  I. 


STATISTICS  AND  SOCIOLOGY 

BY 

RICHMOND  MAYO-SMITH,  Ph.D., 

Professor  of  Political  Economy  and  Social  Science 
IN  Columbia  College. 


ESSAYS  IN  TAXATION 


BY 

PROFESSOR  EDWIN  R.  A.  SELIGMAN, 

Professor  of  Political  Economy.  School  of  Political  SaENCE, 
Columbia  College. 


THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  SOQOLOGY 


BY 

FRANKLIN  HENRY  GIDDINGS,  M.A., 

Professor  of  Sociology  in  Columbia  College. 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY, 

66  FIFTH  AVENUE.  NEW  YORK. 


Date  Due 

^ j,. — 

Form  335— 35M— 9-31— C.  P.  Co. 

311  M473SA 
Mayo- Smith 

pt.l  264870 

Statistics 

and  Sociology 

DATE 

ISSUED  TO 

Wkv  a , 

'j  i 

311  M473SA  pt.l  264870 


